Next Saturday, Feb. 9 at 3 p.m., the Message of Hope seminar will be on healthy relationships. This seminar could not come at a better time. The administration President Donald Trump has quietly changed the definition of domestic abuse. The new definition is as follows:
The term domestic violence includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim;
By a person with whom the victim shares a child in common;
By a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
By a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction receiving grant monies;
Or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that persons acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction.
At first glance, according to this new definition, domestic abuse is only physical acts of violence. This new definition has no basis in reality.
Domestic abuse can be a broad and varied spectrum of behaviors. It can be physical, verbal, emotional, economic, psychological, and/or sexual. It is controlling, isolating, manipulating, and humiliating. It is any manner of behavior that frightens, terrorizes, coerces, threatens, blames, hurts, injures or would harm another person.
To say otherwise injures countless victims of abusive behavior and their children.
It is hard enough to escape an abusive relationship without having to go through all of the things that precede the punch in the face that will get the attention of law enforcement, under the new definition.
Many weeks, months and sometimes years of abuse not defined as physical can take place before any physical violence occurs. To deny that is to deny reality.
The Message of Hope seminar will help you and your children learn what constitutes a healthy relationship.
Escaping domestic violence is a nightmare in itself. The best way to avoid this is to understand what constitutes a healthy relationship from the start and what safety measures need to be taken if you find yourself in the beginnings of an unhealthy relationship. Also, teenagers can learn to identify when someone has a tendency to be abusive and what to do.
It is important for young people to learn and understand what constitutes an abusive relationship and the signals that they are headed into one.
Love and good relationships can make living wonderful.
