This analysis examined 118 studies of the psychosocial outcomes of children exposed to interparental violence. Correlational studies showed a significant association between exposure and child problems.

"The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is the primary federal funding for homelessness services across the nation. McKinney-Vento funds also support domestic violence programs that are providing transitional housing and emergency shelter to victims. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2005, 663 projects that identified domestic violence victims as the primary population to be served were awarded nearly $118 million to provide housing and services for this vulnerable group."

"The study described in this paper looked at homelessness law in the UK before the passage of the recent Housing Act (1996) in Britain. It does not bear out the supposition that homeless families, including women escaping from domestic violence and their children, were unfairly favoured under the previous legislation. The paper argues that the withdrawal in the new Act of the statutory link between homelessness and a lifeline to permanent housing is an example of the ambivalent and contradictory nature of government policy in relation to families and to the social position of women, and is a potentially disastrous development for many women experiencing domestic violence and for their children."

As I mentioned in my earlier post, domestic abuse is the leading cause of homelessness in the United States. Women who go to shelters are tended to, but this article causes me to wonder how much attention and support their children are receiving. Domestic abuse and homelessness can have catastrophic effects on children, including behavioral problems, poor nutrition and severe emotional stress. This leads me to believe that there needs to be more programs in schools and shelters that focus on offsetting the traumatic effects on children of violence in the home.

In conducting research for my final paper, which focuses on the correlation between domestic abuse and homelessness, I have gained an awareness of the urgent need for housing options for women in abusive relationships. Lack of housing is often the reason why a women chooses to stay with an abusive partner; the woman's safety is severely compromised due to a preventable problem. DASH's Empowerment initiative aims to provide women with safe transitional housing and support. For a scared woman who is contemplating leaving her abusive partner, the knowlege of a supportive organization, such as DASH, could be just the push she needs to escape. Though this organization is in the D.C area, I believe it is essential that such organizations are spread throughout the country.

I found the portion of the website that discusses Native rape particuarly saddening and powerful, perhaps because we haven't discussed Native violence as a particular subset. According to the Amnesty International findings, one in three Native women (Native American and Alaska Native) are raped, making Native women 2.5 times more likely to be raped than any other woman in the United States. It is the complex workings of the tribal and state jurisdictions that the allow impunity and even encourage this sexual violence. We have discussed the idea of impunity extensively this semester and I think these findings serve as just one more powerful example of the importance of obtaining justice in order to end violence against women in cultures around the world.

I really like the portion of the website that clarifies legal definitons. Since the legal field can be extremely complex and intimidating to navigate, it is essential that women in abusive relationships feel that they have the resources and support necessary to free themselves. The section on maritial rape was particulary interesting, as there is a lack of awareness concerning the issue and I believe this resource will help women identify if they are in an abusive maritial situation and seek the necessary help.

This is a horrific story that exemplifies one of the many different forms of femicide that exists throughout the world. The child marriage that commonly occurs in Yemen is motivated by dowry payment; the young girls' lives are continually jeopardized for monetary gain. Though the minimum marriage age was changed to 17 in 2009, it was repealed due to conservative pressure, further proving that social change often cannot happen without men's approval. This needs to be changed.