Abuse shelters are the domestic violence industry’s Holy of Holies. Their ministrations are shrouded in mystery, the High Priestesses unnamed, their locations often kept secret. There abused women can become purified of the patriarchal demon and begin life anew.

Of course if you’re an abused man, don’t bother to ask for help. They’re likely to claim you are harassing them and call the police. And abuse shelters don’t seem to be very interested in helping the youngsters, either.

Although abuse shelters claim to serve the children of abused women, what passes for child care may be a gum-chewing, tattoo-adorned teenager clocking her community service hours. Or a former drug-user working off her parole plea-bargain.

Or there may be no care at all.

Several years ago Renee Heikamp was arrested and charged with criminal negligence following the death of her son Jordan. The five-week-old baby wasted away to skin and bones as the two resided at the Catholic Children’s Aid Society in Toronto.

At the Brewster (Ariz.) Center Domestic Violence Services, a 26-year-old resident had sex with a 12-year-old boy in the playground tunnel slide while his mother was away. The predator was hauled off to the Pima County jail and charged with sexual misconduct with a minor.

Shelter residents often complain their children are exposed to far more abuse in the shelter than they had seen outside of it. There they witness taunting, profanity-laden threats, and even physical assaults.

Sometimes children find themselves the target of such abuse. One former resident wrote, “Children, especially teens, become the emotional ‘whipping boys’ of other residents, and if they speak up, they risk getting the family thrown out.”

At one shelter a resident was arrested for a bizarre birthday present for a 13-year-old boy at the facility. The women cornered the boy and proceeded to spank him 13 times – with her clenched fist. [http://www.ejfi.org/DV/dv-55.htm#pgfId-1005130]

Most shameful of all – most abuse shelters refuse to help adolescent children who are…male. After all, we can’t let those proto-patriarchs find out what really goes on behind closed doors.

Erin Pizzey, founder of the first shelter, believes her movement has been hijacked. She charges abuse shelters now “fund the feminist movements so they exclude young boys because they are the potential enemy.”

In Florida, the situation has lurched out of control.

Last October 16-month-old Myliak Dale was playing in the parking lot of the SafeSpace shelter in Stuart, Fla., when a woman started to back her car out. Apparently no one was watching. The toddler’s life was snuffed out in minutes.

Then 10 days later, 26-year-old Milaus Almore was fatally stabbed by another SafeSpace resident, Marilyn Hooks. Almore was eight weeks pregnant.

On May 6, 2007, a Suwannee County sheriff spotted a cluster of teenagers behind a minivan drinking alcohol. The van was registered in the name of the Another Way shelter in Lake City. One of the minors was a pregnant teenager residing at the facility. As we know, drinking during pregnancy is harmful to an unborn infant. [www.true-equality.org/16133/pittman-2.pdf]

The driver’s eyes were severely bloodshot. She was given a sobriety test and failed. The police cited 34-year-old Wendy Pittman for giving alcohol to minors. Turns out, Ms. Pittman was the director of the Another Way shelter.

Pittman was given the boot and replaced by Shanna Travis. Ms. Travis is a nurse who repeatedly tested positive for opiates, failed her rehab, and whose license has been revoked by the Florida Board of Nursing: http://ww2.doh.state.fl.us/IRM00PRAES/PRASLIST.ASP

Things were destined to get worse under Travis’ leadership.

On June 5, 2008, a four-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a nine-year-old female at the shelter while the two were left unattended. According to the police report, the nine-year-old “took down her underwear and pants down and inserted her finger into her vagina.” [www.True-Equality.org/13938/13938.pdf]

The incident took place around 9:30 on Saturday evening. But the assault wasn’t reported to the police until noon the following day.

So why were the two girls left together unattended? Why the 15-hour delay in reporting the incident? And who had the nutty idea of hiring a former druggie to run an abuse shelter?

To get answers to these questions, last week I telephoned Tiffany Carr, director of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, at 1-850-425-2749. Despite repeated attempts, Ms. Carr never returned my call.

Apparently it’s best to give such incidents the hush-hush.

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