What happened when you obtained a protection order? How long after experiencing and escaping abuse did you begin dating again? Which area of legislation do you think is most important? These questions and many others are being answered by survivors and people interested in the movement to end domestic violence through a new weekly survey being conducted online and through social media by DomesticShelters.org.
“There are many useful and excellent academic, government and privately-funded pieces of research, and yet there are myriad domestic violence topics that have not been explored and countless people who would like to share their experience and have their voice counted,” says Anita Hildreth, executive director for Theresa’s Fund.
For example, DomesticShelters.org asked people about their experience with the effectiveness of protection orders. Some research has indicated that 50% of protection orders are violated. At the time of this writing, 239 people had already answered the DomesticShelters.org question “What happened when you obtained a protection order?” with the following result:
- 141 (59%) protection order was violated, I reported it and nothing happened to the abuser
- 37 (15%) protection order was violated and abuser received legal consequences
- 37 (15%) protection order reduced or stopped unwanted contact
- 24 (11%) protection order was violated and I never reported it
The surveys on DomesticShelters.org restrict participants to one vote (per IP address), and allow anyone to view the results via bar graphs, pie charts and heat-mapping technology that visually depicts answers and their regional differences or similarities.
“In a short period of time, we’re imaging this area of DomesticShelters.org to be a go-to resource for the media and domestic violence programs and policymakers, as well as others, who are interested in what people on the front lines are thinking and experiencing,” added Hildreth, who said the social hashtag for the project is #DomesticViolenceSurveys.
DomesticShelters.org is the fastest growing website in North America on the topic of domestic violence. It launched in August, 2014, offering a searchable online and mobile database of domestic violence programs to make finding help faster and easier, and has since expanded to include nearly 200 articles on domestic violence, comprehensive statistics, widgets, recommended books, and now, surveys.
About Theresa’s Fund
Theresa’s Fund is an Arizona-based 501(c)3 non-profit charity started in 1992 by Preston V. McMurry, Jr. Originally, and at a time when domestic violence wasn’t yet a headline, Theresa’s Fund focused on changing the landscape of domestic violence services in its home state through grant making, board development and fundraising for Arizona-based organizations like East Valley Child Crisis Center, Sojourner Center, Florence Crittenden, Emerge, UMOM, and West Valley Child Crisis Center. In 2014, it developed the DomesticShelters.org concept as a way to expand its reach to people across the U.S./Canada. DomesticShelters.org is the first online and mobile searchable database of programs and shelters in the U.S./Canada, and a leading source of helpful tools and information for people experiencing and working to end domestic violence.
