What you probably never knew…

The Harsh Facts about Domestic Abuse

• Domestic violence is the single largest women's health issue in Canada – more cases than heart attack and stroke
• Domestic abuse happens across race, colour, age and economic strata
• Peterborough Crossroads 24 hour crisis & support line receives over 10,000 calls/year and on average, over 360 individuals are sheltered annually
• Peterborough Lakefield Police laid charges in 164 domestic assault incidents in 2006, a 6% increase from 2005 and 18% increase since 2003
• Research suggests 59% of abused women do not report abuse to the police – the problem is greater than we know
• Women from the ages of 17 to 88 have been sheltered and served by the Peterborough Crossroads Shelters
• Children from newborns to late teens and even older have accompanied their mothers and been housed at Crossroads Shelters
• Stats Canada reports 3-5 children in every classroom witness domestic abuse in the home

Statistics suggest a significant percentage of children who grow up in a household of domestic abuse become abusers (men) or abused (women) themselves as adults. Early intervention is key to stopping this cycle.

“Several women have come to Crossroads Shelter in the final stages of pregnancy, gone from Crossroads to the hospital for the birth and returned to Crossroads with a newborn. Some women have come from the hospital to us with their new baby. Women have brought dependant children of all ages - into their 20's and, in one case a daughter in her 40's with developmental challenges. Some women have come and brought their mothers with them because they were living in the household, too, and would be at risk if they stayed.”

- Lynn Zimmer, YWCA Executive Director