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.