The Volunteers of America Southwest Safehouse in Durango is designed to be a secret, safe place where anyone fleeing household violence can find refuge at any time. The coronavirus has changed that.
“Because children, women and men are sometimes having to flee domestic violence situations in the middle of the night, we’ve always strived to never turn somebody away,” said Rachel Bauske, VOA division director. “We don’t have the ability to do that right now in order to adhere to social-distancing guidelines.”
While domestic violence calls have nearly doubled since Colorado’s first coronavirus case March 5, local service agencies have been forced to cut capacity and adapt services because of the virus.
As states imposed stay-at-home orders in response to the growing outbreak, domestic violence and child-abuse service providers expressed concerns that stay-at-home orders might be trapping some people in violent situations without support. As the state prepares to reopen, and victims have more opportunities to leave the house, service providers feel like they might get an influx of calls.
“Our domestic violence and domestic disturbance calls have gone up quite a bit,” said Cmdr. Ray Shupe, spokesperson for Durango Police Department. It’s not just violence between adult couples, but between siblings, and between parents and children, he said.
Southwest Safehouse saw a lull in new guests during the winter, but once March and April arrived, the Safehouse saw a “big spike,” Bauske said. Those calls weren’t just coming from Durango. They were coming from across the state.
“Many other shelters got to the point of having to put a pause on their own intakes and some winter-only shelters were closing,” Bauske said. “That’s when we had to make the decision as an agency.”
The safehouse cut its intake capacity from 26 beds to 12 to open up quarantine areas and allow for social distancing. It turned away 16 people in April, two because of capacity issues and one because the person had COVID-19 symptoms.
Volunteers of America, which also operates the Durango Community Shelter for people experiencing homelessness, began to reorganize. It restructured rooms so people could sleep 6 feet apart. Staff transferred two women from the shelter to the safehouse so it could move half of the men’s population to the female dorm and shift beds farther apart.
The organization paused intakes for a weekend in early April. Staff required everyone at the safehouse and the shelter to wear masks. It also began screening intakes for COVID-19 symptoms.
Community members were apprehensive about going to a communal living environment – nervous about catching the virus. Once people left the safehouse, staff members could not enforce social-distancing restrictions.
“We as providers can give the best advice that we can give, but we weren’t able to enforce anything,” Bauske said. “I think that was challenging and concerning for both our staff and guests.”
Other organizations are also facing virus-related challenges.
Domestic violence service providers adapt to face coronavirus
At La Plata County Human Services, the number of calls in March and April were similar to the same time period in 2019. Most services were already available online or through phone services before the coronavirus arrived. But staff members still have to visit people’s homes during the outbreak if they receive a report about alleged child abuse or neglect. That means donning face masks, grabbing hand sanitizer and screening families for symptoms before arriving at the home, said Director Martha Johnson. When, on the rare occasion, a family needs to come into the office, staff members prepare specific rooms for the visit.
“A lot of calls don’t necessarily meet the criteria for child abuse or neglect,” Johnson said. “It feels like we’re getting more of those kinds of calls now than we did a year ago as families are under increased stress.”
Once the so-called safer-at-home period begins Monday, Johnson’s main concern is child care, particularly for 7 to 10 year olds.
“The businesses will open, but the schools will not,” she said. “A concern we have is, what kind of child care arrangements will parents be able to make?”
Alternative Horizons offers counseling, currently through video platforms, a crisis line and other services for people experiencing violence at home. Staff has begun placing business cards in liquor stores, pharmacies and grocery stores – all open during the stay-at-home order.
“Our concern has been that survivors have had no ability or time to make a call or request help because of the isolation and the stay-at-home order,” said Kim Zook, executive director.
Overall, Zook said the organization’s call volume remained steady, but clients needed more mental health services.
People experiencing domestic violence are isolated from family and friends in normal times. During the stay-at-home order, that isolation became more pronounced.
“Those past traumas are coming up, and in talking about those, we’re also reminding clients of their strengths and resiliency in what they’ve been through,” Zook said.
Now that Colorado is transitioning into its safer-at-home order, Zook expects a shift in services.
“All of the agencies in Colorado are feeling that, now that things might be opening up a bit, we will have an uptick in cases,” Zook said. “I don’t have any proof of that, that’s just the feeling across the state.”
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