Saving Grace: COVID-19, domestic violence a dangerous combination
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) During the early days of COVID-19, families found themselves under a “stay at home” order. This meant parents and children who before had lived like ships passing in the night were suddenly all together in a very tight port.
For some families, it was an opportunity to connect and identify healthy activities to share together; for others, it became a nightmare of violence and distress that would go on to cause trauma, injury, and death.
“Isolation and desperation are key contributors to the increase in domestic violence we have seen in Central Oregon. Not only have we seen an increase in the number of calls, but in the severity of violence,” says Cassi MacQueen, executive director of Saving Grace.