Domestic violence in Miami, Florida has been prevalent and poses many challenges to children, families and as well the entire community. Women and children are mostly victims. An effort has been put to address the issue of domestic violence but has been rendered futile (“Florida’s Domestic Violence Statistics” n.d.). To date, domestic violence still occurs. In order to come up with an effective programme to end domestic violence, it is, therefore, significant to establish a collaborative partnership in the community so as to have a better understanding of the local background. This paper will focus on developing a rapport for establishing a collaborative partnership with Miami community and innovative approaches to address the issue of domestic violence affecting children, families and the community at large.
Miami in Florida state has a population of 453,579 (“Florida’s Domestic Violence Statistics,” n.d.). This community is largely inhibited by primarily service class. Miami income per capita is $21,724, inclusive of both adults and children with $30,858 median household income (“Florida’s Domestic Violence Statistics,” n.d.). Working there as a Child Protective Services worker, I have noted that about 105,000 cases on domestic violence have been forwarded to various police departments in Florida State and approximately 63, 000 arrest annually (“Florida’s Domestic Violence Statistics,” n.d.). For instance, in between 2015 and 2016, 16,362 domestic violence survivors and children were offered 600,621 nights of emergency housings by the approved domestic violence corporations (“Florida’s Domestic Violence Statistics,” n.d.). Advocates against domestic violence have tried to solve this issue by establishing about 113,900 structure safety plans thus providing a cumulative 412,454 hours for advocating and counseling services but ended up receiving a minimal number of call reporting domestic violence and as well seeking help than it was anticipated (“Florida’s Domestic Violence Statistics,” n.d.). This strategy so far has not been successful. One of the contributing factors to the unsuccessful state of this strategy is the culture of Miami community. It is a culture that women remain preservative and not report any acts of violence from their husbands due to fear.
Domestic violence has been a major social issue that faces Miami community. Children and families have been greatly impacted by it. Domestic violence affects children’s mental and physical health and the general well-being of families. Due to rampant domestic violence, many cases of children developing post-traumatic stress disorders and high rate of divorce have been noted in Miami community. Moreover, children who experience domestic violence perform poorly in school and some even encountering pre-mature death (contacts, Lockett, & Bishop, n.d.). This has been a greater challenge the community has been struggling to battle.
Community involvement is very crucial. Therefore, in my approach to solve the issue of domestic violence, I will begin by creating a partnership with the community by building a team of a diverse group of individuals. This will involve, traditional leader, religious leaders, members of the community from different cultures or races and local influential leaders of the community. To build trust with the community, acknowledgment of their culture and communal history is mandatory, appreciation of the previous efforts to fight domestic violence and provision of open and precise objectives of the approach with regular updates of the progress have to be made (Ross, 2010). After forming a partnership with the community, ground rules need to be set, come up with a collaborative behavior, and remain positive.
The next step will be to establish network support and coordination amongst groups precisely during advocacy work in order to minimize the chances of a specific organization being a target (contacts et al., n.d.). This will be achieved by educating people about the significance of planning and seeking support from decision makers such as legal advocates and also the partners. I will invite legal advocates to our meeting to shed some light on legal advice essential to facilitate our efforts of ending domestic violence. Also get to consider to partner with WROs since they have a good knowledge of the context, risk associated with domestic violence and as well those in power. Incorporate grantmakers as well in the program so as to help in making broad changes to planning policies that focus on domestic violence which can work to eliminate domestic violence.
Ensure documentation of all activities of community-based efforts against domestic violence is kept (Ross, 2010). This is important in monitoring and appreciating efforts made with the progress in fighting domestic violence. Supporting organizations will then be able to interpret the information to the community group. Moreover, I will consider seeking help from organizations such as Women’s Fund Miami-Dade and Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence to back us up and help our programme to be a success. These institutions will provide technical and professional assistance such as pushing for implementation of strict policies against domestic violence which helps in spearheading the fight against domestic violence since they major in domestic violence.
Finally, in order to maintain and keep the programme running, it is essential to secure financial resources by encouraging donors and sponsors to donate funds set up more domestic violence institutions at community level to fight against domestic violence and as well make sure staffs get efficient training on strategies to analyze safety risks regarding assembling men and women together to talk find a solution violence. Thus, this program will entire help to do away with domestic violence.