Domestic Violence and
Child Abuse
 Each year, an estimated 3.3 million children are exposed to
violence by family members against their mothers or female
caretakers. (Report of the American Psychological Association
Presidential Task Force on Violence in the Family, 2008)
 In the United States, approximately 324,000 pregnant women are
physically abused by their intimate partner every year (RAINN,
2004)
 In the majority of homes where there is domestic violence and
children are present, there is child abuse or maltreatment.
 In order to end child abuse, we must also end violence against
women. These goals go hand in hand.
Video: Battered Hearts: A Story of Family Violence. Commissioned by S.A.F.E. Place, Battle Creek, MI.
Domestic and Sexual Violence
Advocacy Training and CAST
 Adds an option for CAST students to undertake an in-depth look
at the effects of sexual and domestic violence on families and
children.
 Embeds advocacy training in the CAST curriculum — students
who complete the class are certified domestic and sexual violence
advocates in Minnesota.
 Experience as a crisis advocate enables students to see the scope
of the problem of domestic violence and its effects on children.
 Experience as a crisis advocate fosters the skills students need to
help children and families in effective and meaningful ways.
CAST405: Gender, Violence and Society
General Course Information

This course introduces students to the roots of gender-based violence, the
political and cultural structures that perpetuate it, and explores how this
violence might be brought to an end. Students will investigate the local and
global impact of violence; how gendered violence intersects with race, class,
sexuality, age, physical ability and the oppressions that are linked to these
identities; and strategies for addressing gender-based violence.

Students will develop an understanding of major family and sexual violence
theories and well as the history of legal, political and social responses to
gender-based violence.

As part of the class, students will complete a 45-hour advocacy training
offered in partnership with the Women’s Resource Center of Winona.
Course Texts/Resources
 Gender Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited by L.L. O’Toole,
J.R. Schiffman, and M.L. Kiter Edwards. New York University; 2007.
 Listening to Battered Women: A Survivor-Centered Approach to Advocacy,
Mental Health, and Justice, by Lisa A. Goodman, Deborah Epstein, and
Judith L. Herman. American Psychological Association, 2008.
 Sexual Assault on Campus: What Colleges and Universities Are Doing
About It, National Institute of Justice. Dec 2005. Online. Available at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/205521.htm
 Family Violence Statistics: Including Statistics on Strangers and
Acquaintances, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 207846. June, 2005.
Online. Available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/fvs.htm

In Her Shoes: Living with Domestic Violence, Washington State Coalition
Against Domestic Violence, 2002.
Videos

Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity

Battered Hearts: A Story of Family Violence. Commissioned by S.A.F.E. Place, Battle Creek,
MI.

Secret Wounds: Working With Child Observers of Family Violence, Banerjee Associates.

The “Undetected” Rapist, National Judicial Education Program (a re-enactment of part of
an interview conducted with a college student / rapist by Dr. David Lisak, Associate
Professor of Psychology and Director of the Men's Sexual Trauma Research Center at
the University of Massachusetts-Boston.)

To a Safer Place, Frontline Reports (When Shirley Turcotte was a child, she was sexually
abused by her father. After years of therapy she takes a remarkable journey back into her
past-confronting her mother and other adults who failed to protect her, reuniting with
her brothers and sister who were also brutally abused, and trying to make peace with the
horror story that was her childhood.)

If I Could, David S. Ward film (documentary film that shows one family's attempt to
escape the long-term effects of trauma after decades of abuse, abandonment, drugs and
rage).

Prostitution In America: The Working Girls Speak, In a rare and intimate look at the oldest
profession in the world, Diane Sawyer goes inside both the legal and the underground
businesses of prostitution in America.
Student Voices
“I can’t believe how many
domestic violence calls involve
children – both directly as
witnesses to violence or as
victims of violence, but also as
critical factors in the overall
spectrum of considerations
that need to be taken into
account when a woman makes
a crisis call.”
– Amber, CAST student
CAST405: A University/Community Partnership
 Partnership between WSU and WRC
 WSU/CAST connections
 Women’s Resource Center of Winona
 Partnership goals/benefits
 WSU: WRC provides leadership and infrastructure for
student crisis advocacy experience; career development;
engaged learning opportunities
 WRC: presence on WSU campus; trained advocates;
employment pool when hiring; peer advocates help train and
educate throughout the community
Advocacy Training
 Overview
 Topics
 Section 1: Introduction to the Women’s Resource Center of
Winona
 Section 2: Introduction to Sexual/Domestic Violence Issues
 Section 3: Populations Affected by Domestic Violence
 Section 4: Sexual Assault
 Section 5: Mandated Reporter Training
 Section 6: Victims’ Rights
 Section 7: Important Contacts, Forms and Policies
 Section 8: Phone Procedures
 Section 9: Self-care for Advocates
Outcomes
 Certified advocates/Independent study opportunities
 Peer-based advocacy/education program development
 Got Consent? Campaign
 Resource Card
 PAVE (Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment)
chapter to open at WSU in fall 09
(http://www.pavingtheway.net/)
Things to Think About
1. Do you have a class at your university that includes
advocacy training?
2. Do you have a campus or community organization
that conducts advocacy training?
3. What resources can you identify that would support
advocacy training as part of your CAST curriculum?
4. What obstacles do you face?
Resources
Child Abuse:
www.stopitnow.com/mn
www.preventchildabuse.org
Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Coalitions:
www.mcbw.org (MN Coalition for Battered Women)
www.mncasa.org (MN Coalition Against Sexual
Assault)
www.ncadv.org (National Coalition Against Domestic
Violence)
Q&A
Questions?