Emergency Shelter: A Critical Need for Children Experiencing Domestic Violence

Genesis offers no-cost bilingual services to child survivors of domestic violence including a residential children’s program that works toward instilling feelings of safety and security so that children can focus on healing. Once these foundational needs are met, each child is assessed to determine the best course of treatment to help them heal and begin living healthy, happy lives. When children first arrive at Genesis and throughout their stay, we prioritize their basic needs such as a safe place to rest their heads, clothing, and food to fuel their growing bodies and minds. Children at our secure residential facility share a private suite with their mother as they reestablish the bonds that are essential to recovering from domestic abuse. In addition to three nutritious meals a day, they have unlimited access to snacks to assuage ingrained feelings of food insecurity often experienced in abusive homes. Once a child realizes that danger is no longer looming, the emotional healing process can finally begin. 

Recognizing that it may be difficult or even unsafe for those who are fleeing domestic abuse to return to their neighborhood daycare or former school, Genesis offers on-site childcare, preschool, and a K-6 school to keep kids safe while they learn and heal. Our trained educators realize that trauma can impact a student’s ability to learn in many ways. Genesis’ bilingual teachers assess incoming students’ math and language skills to ensure appropriate curriculum. Well-versed in best practices in child development, our staff adapt the educational programming to meet each child’s individual emotional and academic needs. Meanwhile, their mothers can work on rebuilding their lives knowing that their children are well-cared for. 

Numerous scientific studies demonstrate that the most effective way to help young clients recover from abuse is through extensive therapy. Genesis offers a range of treatment modalities geared toward healing the whole individual. Our counselors utilize Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), directive play therapy, sensorimotor therapy, attachment therapy, occupational therapy (OT), and expressive arts therapies to help children overcome their painful experiences. We also employ tactics to reach our neurodiverse child clients, considering alternative methods of processing information, and each of the strategies we use has been proven effective in treating those hurt by domestic abuse.  

Our healing-centered response therapy includes the most cutting-edge techniques. During EMDR, a type of therapy used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder often associated with war veterans, children are guided through a series of activities to reduce memory vividness and emotional distress by dissociating negative feelings, effectively reprogramming a child’s brain in the wake of trauma. Younger children benefit from play therapy as a counselor helps them address their trauma through their natural form of expression and communication. Bibliotherapy—in which children witness positive interactions between literary characters—is used as a treatment for our youngest clients. Stories demonstrate successful means for navigating life events ranging from disagreements to emotional trauma, helping children to safety-plan, understand why they are at Genesis, develop positive self-esteem and healthy relationships, normalize their feelings and express their emotions in healthy ways.  

Through attachment therapy, children can repair broken bonds with their mothers, reestablishing trust and equipping moms with tools they can implement at home to reinforce lessons acquired at Genesis, continuing the healing long after they leave our care. Children who are treated with attachment therapy exhibit positive outcomes that far outlast their sessions with a therapist; these benefits include improved attachments to their mothers, more effective healing from trauma, learning problem-solving skills, increasing self-esteem, imagination, and vocabulary, decreasing power struggles and behavior difficulties, instilling a sense of importance and self-worth, developing social skills, improved understanding of their own feelings, and a growing sense of respect for their mothers which may have been undermined by the abuser. In 2023, 89% of the mothers whose children graduated from Genesis counseling reported an improvement in their relationships with their children. 

Occupational therapists identify a child’s problem areas associated with sensory processing, fine motor development, academic performance, and social participation and develops individualized treatment plans to support classroom engagement and help children regain their ability to complete daily activities. Occupational therapy goals may include practicing procedures for improved school performance, such as creating routines and offering test-taking techniques, or for developing gross motor skills through repetitive movements like running or throwing balls and fine motor skills such as handwriting and tying shoes. At the heart of our OT program is a state-of-the-art sensory room that uses a variety of visual stimuli, sound, and textures, to promote nervous system recovery. The soothing environment helps children recognize their own sensory needs and leads to self-regulation. Children may also practice emotional regulation skills in OT so that they can better navigate social situations. As the only domestic violence shelter in the Dallas-Forth Worth area to offer occupational therapy, Genesis is paving the way for progress in how we treat childhood trauma. 

In an effort to normalize a child’s stay at Genesis, we promote typical childhood experiences like holiday celebrations and fun and educational adventures. Genesis supplies costumes for kids in shelter to “trunk or treat” at our annual Fall Festival, and families who spend the winter holidays with us have their wish-lists fulfilled with presents supported by generous donations from our community. Children in residence may go on field trips to the zoo or enjoy an outing to Six Flags. All of these events remind kids that they are cherished and help them create happy memories amidst these challenging times.  

Domestic violence knows no racial, cultural, geographic, religious, or socioeconomic boundaries. The children we serve at Genesis come from many backgrounds, and our demographic data is based on client self-reporting. Many of them face additional challenges with the intersectionality of domestic violence, language barriers, immigration status, race-based discrimination and socioeconomic factors. In 2023, 55% of our clients were Hispanic/Latino, 25% were Black or African American, 15% were White, 1% were Asian, 1% were Multiracial, 1% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders, and 2% identified as Other. Maintaining cultural sensitivity is key to understanding a survivor’s experience and helping them to cope within the world around them and their own communities. To this end, Genesis practices culturally competent care, recognizing that cultural distinctions may necessitate alternate approaches to healing. With bilingual staff, Genesis offers services in both English and Spanish, and we hire interpreters when other linguistic needs arise. 

Due to abusers’ common tactic of exercising control over a woman’s work and finances, the majority of our child clients’ mothers are unemployed or underemployed with little or no access to money. Over 85% are classified as low to moderate income. Most of our clients lack the resources to access life-altering services that Genesis can provide with help from our community partners. The unique needs of children who experience abuse are largely unmet by other institutions due to the high cost of medical care—particularly for those with little or no insurance and/or financial means, and a lack of access to those services—especially for minority populations, immigrants and refugees, and people for whom English is not their native language. Funding from the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation will be used to provide these direct services to children at no cost. Your generosity allows us to continue to offer life-saving and transformative support for children, giving them help and restoring their hope.