Newspaper Page Text
Page 2A— Wednesday, October 13, 2021, The True Citizen
Programming tackles domestic violence issue
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
A newly formed coalition
consisting of the Waynesboro
Police Department, the Burke
County Sheriff’s Office, the
Magistrate Court, the Solicitor
General, the District Attorney
and domestic violence shelter
SafeHomes is bringing agen
cies together to make sure
victims of domestic violence
do not fall through the cracks.
“When you have every par
ticipating agency in one ac
cord, then you can go into
separate rooms and know that
Waynesboro PD is going to
do the same exact thing that
the Sheriff’s Office is doing,”
said Captain Randall Norman
of the BCSO. “Victims can get
lost in the system sometimes.”
Norman said responding
to domestic violence calls
has impressed upon him the
understanding that domestic
violence affects individuals
of all walks of life as well
as entire families. Additional
resources acquired by forming
the coalition will better equip
the agencies to assist victims
with remedies like housing
and other issues that must be
addressed in order to separate
from the offenders.
Additionally, the WPD
is also hosting a new pro
gram this spring designed
to empower middle school-
aged Burke County females.
Women Empowering Young
Women, a 10-week program,
addresses decision-making,
self-esteem building, com
munication skills, dating and
domestic violence.
A diverse group of members
of the community will partici
pate as mentors to the students.
The program will include
defining self-love and beauty.
The aim of the program is to
better prepare local females
for the high school years. The
program seeks to assist in the
prevention of female domestic
abuse victimization. Soulbean
Coffeehouse will contribute to
the program.
“Because the statistics show
that mainly women are report
ing domestic violence, this is
our starting point,” said Inves
tigator Angela Collins.
As part of the program,
Charonne Adams, director of
the Victim’s Assistance office
of the Solicitor General will
speak to the students about
dating violence.
“We have a lot of cruelty to
children because they witness
this in the home,” she said and
pointed out that males are 700
times more likely to batter if
they witness it in their homes
as a child.
Acquiring life skills is em
bedded in the health curricu
lum through Burke County
Public Schools, and the op
portunity for students to com
municate about it is definitely
presented, said Superintendent
Angela Williams.
“The focus is not on domes
tic violence specifically; rather,
it's on utilizing interpersonal
communication skills to ‘en
hance personal, family, and
community health’ and ‘as
the basis for strengthening
interpersonal interactions and
reducing or avoiding conflict."’
Also included in the health cur
riculum is locating/identifying
trusted adults as well as school,
family and community services
and resources concerning per
sonal health.”
The K-12 health curriculum
looks different at each grade
level and gets more compre
hensive for older students.
There are similar topics ad
dressed in the SecondStep SEL
(Social Emotional Learning)
curriculum, which spans from
PreK to 8th grade.
Randall Norman pointed
out that a lack of funding and
less-than-ideal community
relationships inhibit program
ming designed to prevent and
to rehabilitate males from com
mitting domestic violence acts.
“We realize the issues that
we have right now,” he said.
“The elephant in the room is
the relationship that the com
munity has with law enforce
ment.”
The Department makes an
effort to connect to the local
youth. Choosing Healthy Ac
tivities and Promoting Safety
(C.H.A.M.P.S.) is a program
established by the Georgia
Sheriff’s Association and fund
ed by the BCSO. It seeks to
train young people to resist
pressures which may influ
ence them to experiment with
alcohol, tobacco, marijuana,
inhalants, opioids and other
drugs. They also are taught
ways to avoid bullying, peer
pressure, violent behavior and
are educated in the art of mak
ing good choices.
Both the WPD and the BCSO
seize every opportunity to
speak to students throughout
the year during their normal
engagement with the schools.
“We do that because we don’t
necessarily have those pro
grams set in place,” Norman
said. “There is a dire need.”
Adams said when families
come through the courts, chil
dren can receive free counsel
ing services to help deal with
the impact of violence. Some
churches offer male mentoring
programs. The court some
times orders anger manage
ment classes, counseling or
mental health services.
“There are little safeguards
that are ongoing, but it is such a
huge problem, we have to take
it a bite at a time to decrease
those numbers,” she said.
Family Violence Interven
tion Programs are 26-week in
tense programs, which strictly
involve only the offender. The
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(left to right) Investigator Angela Collins from the Waynesboro Police Department, and
Charonne Adams, director of the Victim’s Assistance office of the Solicitor General and
Captain Randall Norman of the Burke County Sheriff’s Office met October 7 and discussed
ways a coalition of agencies are addressing the community issue of domestic violence.
programs are designed to teach
communication skills, interper
sonal skills and conflict resolu
tion. Although Statesboro may
still have a program, Adams
said she believed the Augusta
Judicial Circuit no longer of
fers that option.
“We have not put anybody
in that program in quite some
time so I am assuming it is not
available anymore,” she said.
“It’s a very good program.”
Meanwhile, Norman said
there are currently not enough
programs to assist the offend
ers.
“They need help too,” he
said. “At the end of the day,
who really wants to grow up
to be a monster? Nobody does.
A lot of times we focus on
the victims and the children
initially, but we look forward
to being able to have such
programs in the future with the
funding and the assistance.”
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