Disenfranchised victims: Children of violent homes

Disenfranchised victims: Children of violent homes

Andayani, Jakarta

The last decade has been marked by an increasing awareness of
domestic violence in Indonesia. On Sept. 14, 2004, the country
enacted the domestic violence protection act (UU Perlindungan
Kekerasan Dalam Rumah Tangga), which aims at protecting and
ensuring the safety of family members from violence within the
domestic environment. This act legally assures the protection of
wives, husbands, children, relatives, domestic workers and any
others who work and/or reside within the family.

However, it could be argued that thus far advocacy initiated
by women's and children's activists in Indonesia has placed more
emphasis on promoting the issue of wife abuse as compared to
other forms of domestic violence. Generally, the children of
battered women remain unacknowledged and disenfranchised in
society that in turn leads to an absence of adequate support
systems to protect this population. It is a fact that children
are strongly influenced by parental violence.

In America, every year the number of children who witness
domestic violence is estimated to be 3.2 million. Hard data
concerning the number of such children in Indonesia is non-
existent, but the rate can perhaps be extrapolated from the
number of cases of wife abuse. The National Commission on
Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) has stated that last
year they dealt with 5,934 incidents of domestic violence (The
Jakarta Post, June 30, 2004).

It must be noted that domestic violence in general is an
underreported crime; the actual number of incidents would be far
greater if there was not such a strong social stigma attached to
it, in addition to the limitations of the services able to be
offered to victims. However, based on the aforementioned
statistics, we can assume that the number of children who suffer
in silence from the effects of domestic violence is significant.

Witnessing violence can trigger an array of problems in terms
of physical health, as well as cognitive, emotional, and
behavioral aspects. The impact of conjugal violence on children
varies, is multidimensional, and also depends on their emotional
and intellectual maturity.

It is important to note that the attachment theory of
psychology postulates that early relationships between parents
and children significantly determines a child's future
development. It is detrimental for children to witness violence
as it may hinder their attachment needs to parents and may plant
the seeds of such violence in the child's understanding of adult
relationships.

Furthermore, the emotional strain and power imbalances
inherent in violent relationships impedes the parents from
adequately providing for the child's immediate emotional and
physical needs.

The more visible impacts upon these children are manifested
in so-called mood-related disorders such as excessive crying,
sadness, and anxiety. The child may suffer from sleeping and
eating disturbances due to the disruption of the normal routine
at home. The aftermath of violence also fosters a lack of
responsiveness to adult stimulation.

In a similar way, pre-school children witnessing domestic
violence can display sleep and health problems. As well, they are
at risk of anxiety disorders. Pre-school children may exhibit
psychosocial symptoms such as headaches and abdominal pain.

When the children are school-aged, psychosomatic symptoms and
health problems may continue. In school, it is reported that such
children lack concentration as a result of trauma and intense
feelings of low self-image and confidence, exasperating an
already difficult situation.

This low sense of self worth is perpetuated by feelings of
shame and embarrassment over this "family secret". Consequently,
they demonstrate poor school performance as well as social
competence. This population is also susceptible to having
problems in interacting with peers and adults.

Interestingly, there is a gendered polarization in the ways
that school aged boys and girls compensate for their distress.
Boys tend to display disobedient or even disruptive behaviors
towards others, whereas girls are more likely to become
withdrawn, dependent, and clingy. Boys may consider aggressive
behaviors or violence as appropriate ways to resolve problems,
while girls internalize the idea that violence is normal, and in
a sense, self-deserving. Girls may become victims of dating
violence as they think that abuse is unavoidable or even a
manifestation of love itself. Boys internalize that violence is
necessary for surviving and maintaining relationships with women.

For adolescents witnessing domestic violence, the potential
risk is acute conflict with their own parents. Their lives can
also be colored by pessimism due to a fatalistic perception of
their own future. Violence impacts upon the adolescent's sense of
dignity, which in turn encourages the emergence of anti-social
behaviors such as substance abuse, delinquency or early sexual
activity. Other serious risks include running away from home,
which may magnify the situation since living on the street is
difficult.

It seems obvious that street children often get trapped in a
wide range of different kinds of street violence, such as
prostitution, stealing, pick pocketing, labor exploitation, and
the like. Whether the children run away or remain at home, many
scholars warn that they are at a greater risk of committing
crimes later in their life such as rape, murder, kidnapping, and
physical assault.

Violence is learned behavior. Domestic violence is cyclical,
which is often transferred across generations. This is a form of
multigenerational violence and people must attempt to eradicate
its prevalence through prevention, rehabilitation, and advocacy.
Nevertheless, it is recommended that women's and children's
activists in particular continue to promote this issue, otherwise
we will be guilty of sanctioning the legacy of multigenerational
violence in our societies.

The writer is a lecturer at the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic
University (UIN), and an associate member of Rifka Annisa
Research and Training Center, Yogyakarta. She is currently
pursuing a Master of Social Work at McGill University, Canada.