Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse Helps Hudson Valley Combat Domestic Violence

Reports of domestic and child violence are on the rise in both the Hudson Valley and statewide, according to the New York State Domestic & Sexual Violence Hotline. In 2016, 8,584 calls were made to the Hotline, compared to just over 7,000 in 2015.

Westchester, Orange, and Dutchess counties were among those in the state with the highest volumes of calls. These three Hudson Valley counties accounted for 24% of all domestic violence calls in the state, up 1% from 2015.

As the statistics of domestic violence victims has increased overall, the number of reported child abuse victims has nearly doubled in the state.

In response, the number of abuse prevention nonprofit organizations, like the Poughkeepsie Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse (CPCA), have also increased in the Hudson Valley as many look to address the local violence rates. The Office of Children and Family Services reports that private donations to domestic violence programs in the state have been steadily increasing every year since at least 2011, which has helped fund the different programs and training that the organizations use to prevent abuse.

Catherine Ponziani, volunteer at the CPCA, is involved in the center’s prevention training, and believes the increase in domestic and childhood violence cases is due to more reporting, not necessarily more abuse.

“Programs like ours have been working so hard to end childhood violence by just educating the public on how to reach out to those who can help, which I can see has normalized it a bit,” Ponziani said.

The organization travels to nearly every school in the county to instruct pre K-6th grade students how to keep their bodies safe. This includes training on how to tell an adult about a traumatic experience, and the difference between what is a safe or inappropriate type of contact. Mary Fleming, deputy director of CPCA, says that these school programs work at the source to, “empower children to report.”

The center also offers community education and parenting classes, with programs aimed toward young parents, parents with special needs, and those who want to learn how to be more effective guardians. Ponziani says the parenting classes are often the most effective. “A lot of the parents are mandated to go to the classes, but we also see a lot of self-referred parents who truly just want to learn how to be better for their kids,” Ponziani said.

The center also emphasizes the importance of the Domestic & Sexual Violence Hotline to those in its programs. Fleming believes that the anonymous Hotline has had a large impact on the increase in reported cases, and is therefore essential to combating the rise in violence. “[The anonymity] increases the likelihood that individuals will report suspected child maltreatment because they don’t have to give their name when reporting,” Fleming said.

With an increase in the number of programs and volunteers, as well as funding, organizations like the Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse have been able to work toward a safer Hudson Valley. Fleming says the center will continue to work until the issue has left the area, saying, “there’s no excuse for child abuse.”

For more information about the Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse, call: (845) 454–0595. For help related to domestic violence, call the New York State Domestic & Sexual Violence Hotline at 1–800–942–6906.

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