Abuse gets more talk than action Victim advocate groups seek additional funding

AUGUSTA – A year after a statewide conference on domestic violence and sexual assault was held to set an “action agenda,” those Mainers who work with victims say there has been a lot of talk and a lot of planning, but not much action.

“If you ask are we providing more help to victims, I can’t say that we are,” said Lois Reckitt, executive director of Portland-based Family Crisis Services. “If you ask are things better, I think I can say they are better.”

Things are better, she and other advocates say, because there is greater public awareness of the issues now compared to a year ago. They say that for the most part, there is more understanding of the needs of victims among law enforcement and the judiciary since the conference. But, increased awareness also is putting additional strains on programs already stretched to provide needed services.

There is a lot more to do, but funding and staffs haven’t been increased to meet the demand, according to Cynthia Peoples, executive director of Caring Unlimited in Sanford. “They are working very, very hard to help, but they can only help as many people as they can in a day.”

Peoples said reports of domestic violence increased by more than a third during the 1990s in York County. She said as public awareness has grown, more people have come forward seeking help.

“And that is certainly good, but we are just so stretched thin we can’t provide all the help we want or should provide,” she said.

Christine Fenno, executive director of the Abused Women’s Advocacy Project, which serves Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties, said without additional funding more victims will not get the help they deserve.

“My staff says they feel like they are doing piecework because of the volume of people requesting services,” she said.

In fact, she said, the Farmington office now is handling about 450 cases a year. That is about the same number as the organization handled in all of its offices in the three counties six years ago.

The same staff shortages hold true for the agencies across the state that provide services to the victims of sexual assault. The number of reported rapes in Maine went up 16.5 percent last year, with 318 cases reported by law enforcement agencies.

“We have been doing more with the same amount of resources,” said Kathy Walker, executive director of Rape Response Services, an agency that serves Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. “But we can’t continue to do that indefinitely.”

Marty McIntyre, executive director of the Sexual Assault Crisis Center in Lewiston, said every day her staff tries to “be in two places at once” even though they recognize that is impossible. She said a good example recently occurred in Androscoggin County where the school-based advocate was supposed to see two different girls at two different high schools.

“Well the girl at school A was in crisis, and by the time the crisis was dealt with, the advocate had no time to meet with the girl at school B,” McIntyre said. “What is so frustrating is we don’t know if the girl at school B could have had just as big a problem and would have been in crisis as bad as the other girl.”

It’s not all bad news in dealing with violence issues. For example, Robin Gauthier of Safe Harbor in Lubec said federal funds have allowed for the hiring of a full-time deputy sheriff in Washington County dedicated to domestic violence cases.

Tracy Cooley, state coordinator of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, said while there has been no increase in direct services, prevention efforts have been expanded in some parts of the state.

“We have seen some additional federal grant money targeted for education, and we have had some success in getting the private sector involved,” she said.

For example, she says, scores of employers are expected to attend a daylong training seminar next month sponsored by the coalition and Maine Employers Against Domestic Violence.

“But to expand services, we need the additional funding by the Legislature,” Cooley said.

That funding is far from certain, even though 145 members of the Legislature co-sponsored a measure that would provide $4.8 million a year to expand services. House Speaker Michael Saxl, D-Portland, told a House Democratic caucus Thursday he is “still hopeful” that “some” money for the legislation will be approved this year.

Even if lawmakers approve all of the $4.8 million a year, it will take months to hire and train the staff needed to expand services. In fact, advocates say, it probably will be January – two years after Gov. Angus King declared domestic violence as public enemy number one – before the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault benefit from any additional funding.