One Month Until Heels!

The countdown to Walk A Mile In Her Shoes: The International Men's March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault & Gender Violence has officially begun! Today marks exactly one month until April 25, 2009 - track the time yourself by following our countdown timer at the bottom of the page.

Walk A Mile In Her Shoes asks men to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault in a unique way - by walking one mile in women's high heeled shoes! We are excited for the community to put their best foot forward and walk to end violence - even Mayor Sehnert has agreed to walk!

Every one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. Would you put yourself in her shoes? Step up and join us!

Walk A Mile In Her Shoes - Saturday, April 25, 2009

Dorney Plaza, Downtown Findlay & Coordinating Parade Route

Registration: 10am

Opening Ceremony: 11:30am

Walk Start: 12pm

Reception & Awards: 1pm

If you would like to walk or challenge a friend or co-worker to walk, visit the "More Information" box at the bottom of this page and click on the "Walk A Mile In Her Shoes" folder for the forms. If you're interested in volunteering, please call us at 419.420.9261.

Open Arms to Host "Investigating Sex Crimes" Training

Open Arms will host Gordon Goodrow, a senior detective with the Lower Paxton Police Department in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Goodrow will present “Investigating Sex Crimes,” training for law enforcement, prosecutors, medical personnel, advocates and other professionals on March 30 and 31 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at The Family Center.

Last month, Open Arms reported a 30% increase in the number of sexual assaults handled by the county’s Sexual Assault Response Team through the Blanchard Valley Emergency Department in 2008. A community task force is in place to address this issue, and Open Arms offers Goodrow’s training to further educate professionals working with victims and offenders of sex crimes.

The training is a one day training. The curriculum is being repeated a second day to allow agencies to stagger personnel schedules and allow more officers to attend. The Hancock County ADAMHS Board has underwritten the training so that the cost is free to professionals serving Hancock County and only $10 to out of county professionals. CEU’s and CNE’s will be provided. CLE’s are pending.

Goodrow has been in law enforcement for more than 20 years and as a detective is specially trained in sexual assault investigations, child pornography, child abuse, interview and interrogation, and homicide. He is a frequent trainer and has presented at statewide conferences. For more information about the “Investigating Sex Crimes” training, call Open Arms at 419-420-9261

Robin Givens and Denise Brown on "Larry King Live"

The recent case involving celebrities Rihanna and Chris Brown has brought public attention to violence against women yet again. Last night on "Larry King Live" guest host Joy Behar interviewed Robin Givens and Denise Brown. The topic of the discussion: domestic violence.

In the interview, Givens, actress and ex-wife of heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, shares her experience and history of abuse. Brown, sister of Nicole Brown who was O.J. Simpson's former wife, discusses the cycle of domestic violence. Both Givens and Brown visited Findlay to talk about this issue at Open Arms' Annual Meetings, Givens in October 2008 and Brown in October 2007.

Watch their interview here on our blog to learn more.

FBI, Ohio, and Child Prostitution

The FBI recently teamed up with local law enforcement across the nation to rescue child prostitutes. The three-day initiative, known as Operation Cross Country, targeted 29 U.S. cities – including Toledo, Cleveland and Lima – and recovered 48 children.

In Ohio, 18 adults were arrested. And of the 19 state busts, the only state with more targeted zones than Ohio was California. Lima was the smallest city on the list.

During the three-day period, more than 571 people were arrested on domestic trafficking and prostitution-related charges.

This is the third Operation Cross Country sweep to occur since the formation of the Innocence Lost National Initiative, a federal program created to fight child prostitution. Over the life of the project, the Innocence Lost Task Forces have recovered 670 children, including 9 girls in Pennsylvania who were sold from Toledo, Ohio, and forced into a prostitution ring out of state.

On January 6, 2009, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed into law a bill that requires stricter sentences for human trafficking crimes, including increased prison sentences and jail time for convictions on promoting prostitution, illegally using a minor in pornography and endangering children. The bill also encourages the Attorney General's office to form a Trafficking in Persons Study Commission to study the issue.

A Disturbing Increase

In the past we typically average between 21 - 26 reported sexual assaults a year at the ER. Currently, however, we have responded to 32 sexual assaults for the year 2008. This is a 30% increase. Even more startling, 25 of these assaults happened in the last six months of this year, 19 in the last 3 months of the year.

In every month of the last 6 months reported sexual assaults have been double what they were in the corresponding months last year. This is a highly unusual time to see a spike in numbers since winter is typically the quietest time of the year for sexual assaults.
These assaults correlate closely in time to the economic downturn. The National Institute of Justice recently completed research that indicates under financial strain crimes in families triple and after bouts of unemployment they quadruple. As we know, more than 70% of sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows, typically a relative.

Although unemployment in the core of Hancock County does not appear to be much changed there is still significant financial strain across the board, and the general pessimistic mood and constant fear about finances is creating an unprecedented strain in families.

These numbers are such a significant increase that they may be indicative of not just an increase in reports but an actual increase in assaults.

In addition to responding to the ER we sheltered 4 of these clients and helped 11 with protection orders. Nineteen of the 32 were over the age of 18; 13 of them were between 13 - 17 years of age.

We are working on some community trainings and discussions with other service providers and first responders throughout the system to try to understand root causes and how best to respond to this growing issue.

Past, Present and Future

Happy New Year 2009! Let's take some time to reflect on the past, present and future at Open Arms:

We were impacted significantly by the two large floods in August 2007 and February 2008, bringing our combined total in damages in excess of $70,000. What many people do not realize is that research indicates increases in family violence after a major disaster. These increases can last for as many as four years.

We have seen first hand the effects of this natural disaster on the need for family violence services. The number of children in foster care in our community experienced a 76% increase from 2006 to April of 2008. Supervised visitations for abused children have increased by 300%.

While we were already struggling to keep up, the economic climate shifted drastically. The National Institute of Justice recently conducted a study which revealed that during difficult economic times the incidents of family violence against women and children increase considerably. The rate of domestic violence among couples experiencing high levels of financial strain triples, and it quadruples if the family experiences two or more periods of unemployment. Reported sexual assaults in our community have increased by 30%, almost all of them occurring in the last six months of 2008.

In the midst of these unprecedented needs for service we are experiencing the most significant financial down turn in agency history. We are being forced to reduce the revenue in our operating budget by more than $60,000 in 2009. Several grants have been cut, including two federal grants that have been cut by more than 10% and to which further cuts will be made. Donations are also down; prior to Match Day they were behind by about $7,000.

2009 will see major changes, as funding cuts are projected in multiple areas. We have already eliminated some staff, both in Harmony House and the shelter program. We are hoping to simply maintain what we have, and find a way to triage and prioritize cases so that the people in most need get any available services.

We extend a big thank you to all of our volunteers and donors of 2008! As we enter this new year we look forward to your continued support while we work together to serve our community.