NEW JERSEY- Two weeks after Assemblyman Michael Inganamort announced he was making children’s safety a legislative priority this fall, an Assembly committee on Monday passed his bill connecting children who witness an act of domestic violence to vital services.
“The bottom line is that domestic violence in a home affects everyone in the home. Domestic violence in a family affects everyone in that family and this bill recognizes that point,” Inganamort (R-Sussex, Morris, Warren) said before the committee unanimously advanced his bill. “That the physical bruises may be most obvious at least visually, but the emotional toll on children, although it can be unseen, is very long lasting.”
He noted that the human brain develops into a person’s 20s, so anything experienced or learned before then, contributed to who you are and who you will become.
“We want to make sure that children who live in homes with domestic violence get the help they need to cope with it, to understand it, and to build the resilience to become healthy functioning young adults and adults,” Inganamort said.
The assemblyman spent much of this year meeting with local advocates for child protection and domestic violence survivors to discuss improving state laws to better meet the needs of children who are impacted by violence and abuse.
One such group, Ginnie’s House, an advocacy center for children experiencing abuse in Sussex County, came to Trenton on Monday to testify in favor of the bill.
“Coming from the perspective of a child’s advocacy center, it is vitally important that these children not be forgotten when domestic violence has occurred. It has been found by the resource center for domestic violence that in 30 to 60% of domestic violence cases, there has also been some kind of child maltreatment occurring as well,” said Belle Ward, the organization’s prevention education coordinator.
The bill (A2998) requires domestic violence victims and abusers to receive information on programs and services for children who may have heard or been present during an act of domestic violence. It also allows a court to require those children receive counseling in certain cases.
Referring to domestic violence organizations and child advocates, Inganamort said, “These are the experts, they know what they are doing, and through this legislation we’ll ensure that judges, who are the ones handling these issues of domestic violence, know that is where kids can go, it’s possibly where they need to go depending on the circumstances and it’s where they can get their lives back on track.”
