Every year, the National Network to End Domestic Violence conducts a survey of those seeking help.
It is not a total for the year. It is a snapshot of one day. How many people reached out? How many people found services? How many were adults, and how many were children?
In 2023, that day was Sept. 6. Across the country, 76,975 people were looking for help to escape the violence they found in the place they should have been safest — their own homes, with their families or partners.
Of those, 44,616 found emergency shelter. It is one of the main services that is sought, with 70% of domestic violence programs providing it.
In Pennsylvania on that one day, 3,102 sought help and 1,792 of them found it with emergency shelter.
It’s hard to think of so many people — mostly women and children — being in such a vulnerable position. It’s not just about needing a roof and a bed. It’s about needing security. Women are five times more likely than men to be killed by an intimate partner, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. That is most likely to happen when leaving the relationship.
That makes shelters important to protect. They need to be confidential. They do not confirm who is staying. They are careful about who comes in.
And that makes what happened Oct. 1 at the Blackburn Center in Greensburg troubling.
State police troopers serving a child custody order were denied entry. The employees would not confirm or deny the presence of the people involved in the case. Ultimately, the troopers forced their way into the building, prying open the door, finding the child and transferring custody to the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau.
Pennsylvania has a Protection from Abuse Act that gives domestic violence advocates a shield similar to the protections for a medical professional or a lawyer, where the client has a right to privacy that cannot be waived by the worker.
That is no doubt why, after police filed misdemeanor charges of obstruction and disorderly conduct against four employees, Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli dropped charges against three of them. One woman, Eleonora M. Marsili, 65, of Hempfield, still faces two misdemeanor counts.
Whether she should remains a good question.
A better question is, what damage will this do to the Blackburn Center’s ability to do its job? Will people seeking help leaving a domestic violence situation trust they are safe at that shelter? Will they stay in homes where they are at risk?
Oct. 1, incidentally, was the first day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
