In communities like Concord, victims of domestic violence face special challenges -- ones which those in less privileged communities may not. Some of the very characteristics we value in our community may act as obstacles when it comes to seeking or being offered help when there is violence in the home. These represent substantial challenges that impact victims' ability to leave their abusers.

Reflection upon the dynamics of Concord as a privileged community (in income, social/professional status, or education) shows the impact this privilege has upon silencing victims. It reveals a list of characteristics that are helpful in explaining the unique challenges of addressing domestic violence in a privileged community such as ours.

In 1999, one in three crimes against persons reported to the Concord Police involved domestic violence. The police responded to 4 calls involving elder abuse, 8 calls involving child abuse, and 134 calls involving domestic violence. Domestic violence comprised 7.5% of all department calls. An additional 60 calls were received from Concord residents by the Domestic Violence Victim Assistance Program (DVVAP). Comments by community members indicate that possibly this represents only 50% of Concord's victims.

Despite close proximity to one another in the more traditional subdivisions, neighbors are often strangers and each family is absorbed in its own activities. This social isolation prevents neighbors from developing relationships promoting intervention with a family experiencing domestic violence, even if just to contact the police during an abusive incident.

Several initiatives are underway to address this situation. Concord's Community Network is working in general to promote our greater sense of community. DDVAP will train volunteers in Concord to address domestic violence with their neighbors and friends (see sidebar at right). And lastly, the Concord-Carlisle Domestic Violence Roundtable which began in September, 1999 and is open to any interested community member, has monthly educational meetings and is developing outreach and awareness projects.

High level of education. Victims who call upon the services of the police and DVVAP are often professors, lawyers, doctors. Advocates are asked for information about divorce, custody, property, real estate, and even banking laws that would allow victims to create comprehensive escape plans. The need for a complete network of sensitive real estate agents, powerful divorce attorneys, and banking executives becomes integral in safety planning with these victims. Advocates need to be trained well beyond the traditional domestic violence curriculum, as referral systems in Concord extend far beyond therapeutic support groups.

If the victim has a high level of education, this often increases the shame and self-blame people feel about being in a battering situation. There is also a mistaken belief, even among some helping professionals, that domestic violence does not occur among well-educated people, making it difficult for victims to be readily believed.

To create change in this area, Concord's Emerson Hospital has initiated some outstanding staff-focused education programs on domestic violence. This is particularly impactful because studies show that almost 33% of emergency room patients are victims.

Elevated social status is one of the greatest barriers preventing victims from seeking help. Our victims and abusers ARE the judges, doctors, lawyers, and town selectpeople that are held in high social esteem by others. A victim must have great courage to identify to herself that she is in an abusive relationship. She must also accept that her neighbors and friends may not be willing to admit that domestic violence affects their community, let alone anyone they know.

Interested in working with DVVAP.... ...and assisting victims of domestic violence? Their next advocate training will begin October 3, 2000. Please call Kiersten Warning at 978.318.3421 or email her at DVVAP@ConcordNet.org for more information. About DVVAP: This community collaboration that was formed in October, 1998 by the Concord Police Department and The Network for Women's Lives, a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about domestic violence. Presently, the Acton and Maynard Police Departments and Domestic Violence Services of Central Middlesex, Inc. are also collaborators in DVVAP. It is funded in part by the Concord-Carlisle Community Chest and the Acton-Boxborough United Way. Reach DVAAP at P.O. Box 1556, Concord, MA 01742, (978) 318-3421, DVVAP@ConcordNet.org.

Elevated income acts as another great barrier in calling for help. Oftentimes our victims are driving Mercedes SUVs without access to ANY money and are expected to put on a happy face while living under violent and hostage-like situations. The myth often found in traditional domestic violence communities is that victims of privilege have the financial means to access private services to address the violence. The fact is that victims often do not have access to cash, credit cards, checkbooks, or even information about the amount and location of family finances.

Little support from family members. Family members tend to minimize the abuse because of the elevated income and social status of many victims in Concord. "What are you going to do? Leave your big house and live on the streets with your kids who have only known the best of the best? Are you crazy? You should stay for the kids. How bad can it be?"

System-phobia. Most Concord residents are unfamiliar and uncomfortable asking for help from traditional social service agencies such as a domestic violence hotline and the Department of Social Services. They may feel their pride insulted to make such contacts, and the agencies themselves may suffer from stereotypes about helping victims from privileged communities. To address this in Concord, we have worked closely with traditional service providers to advocate for victims from privileged communities. We reassure victims that traditional service agencies are available to assist them, outlining the different ones available and the protocol for each.

Social workers are often correct in assuming that children of troubled families are under the care of therapists and psychiatrists, which may lead them to believe that the issues in the family are adequately addressed. Oftentimes, children's behavior is often managed without confronting or working with the parents to explore the root causes of the behavior. Little or no attention may be paid to the parents in these families.

Systems warfare is one of the most common tools of privileged abusers. Victims call with horror stories of bankruptcy from defending against their partners' abuse of the legal and social service system. Abusers' threats that their victims will never have anything if they leave are very, very real in privileged communities.

Victims' cost-benefit analyses of leaving their abusers are daunting as many face the real possibility of poverty with no tools for nor knowledge of how to live in poverty. This factor alone contributes greatly to the number of silent victims that will never call for help.

Bizarre abuse. According to our victims and to batterer intervention programs, bizarre acts of abuse are also characteristic in privileged communities. The higher the education and social status the more commonplace the bizarre forms of abuse. This bizarreness also becomes a barrier to victims asking for help as it can be particularly shameful to admit and the risk of disbelief is high.

Concord has made good progress in identifying and meeting the special needs of her domestic violence victims. With community support and involvement, we can meet our goal to continue adapting to the needs of our citizens.