Metro

Abuse Happens Her

JWI efforts prove need for coalition,
public awaresness and training.

Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor

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WE'RE PART OF THE TEAM

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November 22 @ 2007

omestic abuse is a complex
issue that affects children,
parents, families and indi-
viduals in Detroit's Jewish commu-
nity, and Jewish Women International
(JWI) is leading a local effort to
address it.
At a briefing Oct. 31 with local
representatives from Jewish women's
organizations, major points in JWI's
"Needs Assessment: A Portrait
of Abuse in the Detroit Jewish
Community" were released. The
assessment was conducted by JWI
in partnership with Jewish Family
Service (JFS) and with funding from
the Jewish Women's Foundation of
Metropolitan Detroit.
A goal is to create a coalition of
Jewish groups to raise awareness of
the problem and provide training to
clergy and other Jewish professionals.
The model comes from a JWI pro-
gram in Chicago started about five
years ago.
"This is a complex problem that
takes the whole community;' said
Deborah Rosenbloom, director of
programs for the Washington, D.C.-
based JWI. "It's not just an Orthodox
or Reform problem."
Though a taboo subject for genera-
tions of Jewish families, much like
alcoholism and addiction, domestic
violence began surfacing locally in
the late 1980s during JFS clinical
work, JFS' Ellen Yashinsky Chute said
at the briefing. "There was denial
about it:' she said.
JFS worked to address and under-
stand the problem and, through the
years, programs emerged, including
JFS' Windows program, Safe Place
with National Council of Jewish
Women (an apartment for use by
abused women and their families),
Shalom Bayit (a grassroots coalition
to raise awareness and offer help), a
recent Hebrew Free Loan Association
program to help abused women
escape or start over, JWI's library
program at HAVEN (a domestic
abuse shelter) and now the domestic
abuse assessment and efforts to build
a coalition.

JWIts NEEDS ASSESSMENT

IN THE DE I. ROM JEWISH

p•- ■ iNgtord by jo.sh Wo,ee

A host of organizations, includ-
ing the Michigan Board of Rabbis,
JARC, Fresh Air Society, Hebrew Free
Loan Association, Jewish Women's
Foundation and JFS, among others,
were asked to complete the needs
assessment surveys. Also included
were 11 key community and profes-
sional leaders.
Data from the assessment is tell-
ing:
• Of the 252 respondents, more
than 50 percent said abuse is a
somewhat" or "very serious" prob-
lem, with 21 percent saying it's "very
serious!'
• Sixty-nine percent of rabbis, 53
percent of community professionals
and 53 percent of community leaders
said they knew a Jewish adult abused
by an intimate partner.
• Of the 19 rabbis responding, all
agreed that physical violence and
verbal threats are "abusive behavior"
and that linking victims and abusers
to services was within their rabbinic
role. Ninety-three percent said they
would refer individuals in abusive
situations to or consult with JFS.
Seventy-five percent felt that lack
of training was the most prevalent
challenge to dealing with abuse; 70
percent of community professionals
and 92 percent of educators said such
training was a priority.
Yashinsky Chute said the group
will mobilize in the next two months
to form a broad-based coalition.

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