Women's Rights Employment Law Blog

The network provided assistance to 8,692 victims of domestic violence in 2006, up from 5,924 in 1997.

State crime statistics show a similar increase, although the numbers are notably smaller. The disparity, experts said, occurs because only a small percentage of domestic-violence victims notify law enforcement. Police reports of abuse escalated 6 percent between 2003, when the state started tracking that data, and 2006, according to the Vermont Criminal Information Center in Waterbury. The 1,500 reports in 2003 increased to a projected total of 1,591 last year, based on data from the first three-quarters of 2006.

Agencies and advocates who help domestic-violence victims have worked for years to understand the trend and begin to reduce it. Now, the Legislature is entering the fight.

Every Thursday during the 2007 session, the Senate Judiciary Committee is convening hearings on the issue. The goal, said committee Chairman Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, is to gain an understanding of the trend and write a comprehensive bill to introduce a year from now that aims to hold back the rising tide of violence.

"Unless a serious beating or murder occurs, we kind of put it aside and don't talk about it much. We talk about sex offenders or robberies or whatever else is the topic of the moment," Sears said. "It remains hidden in Vermont, and yet many people are living in fear."

Robare was among them.

Decades of abuse

Battered and terrified, Robare shriveled to less than 90 pounds. Her self-esteem vanished, along with the friends and relatives her boyfriend banned her from seeing. He forced Robare to quit her job, stay at home and raise the couple's three children. Emotional abuse felt worse than physical abuse, she said.

The slightest provocation, or, sometimes, none at all, would trigger another violent attack. A broken television, a nightmare and money problems were among the many justifications, Robare said.

The memories remain vivid: the earliest assault, the worst beating, the first time he hit one of the children.

"I was awakened by being grabbed by the hair," Robare said, recounting the most violent encounter, which occurred two years into the relationship. "He dragged me down the stairs into the living room, where he threw me on the floor and kicked and punched me while my kids stood there screaming."

She scrambled to the bathroom and locked herself in. He smashed through the wall to kick her as she cowered, and then he forced open the door. The assault stopped only because he broke one of his hands. He sought treatment at the emergency room. He wouldn't let her see a doctor.

Robare's offense? She hadn't answered the phone when he called the day before.

She endured seven years of abuse before she first tried to leave. He threatened to kill her parents, burn their house down. Robare returned. Thus began a cycle of escaping and coming back that lasted until the relationship ended. The longest Robare ever was gone, she said, was five days.

Not until the abuser started hitting the children did Robare manage to break free. Her daughters were not going to be victims; her son would not grow up with a belief that hitting was acceptable, she resolved.

While her boyfriend waited for her in the lobby of a downtown Burlington building, Robare sneaked out the back, went to the police department and took out a restraining order.

Search for a solution

Robare, 47 now and free of her abuser for 11 years, knows every statistic on domestic violence represents a human story. She's excited the Legislature is addressing a complicated issue that often gains little attention in the corridors of power.

"I'm psyched, because we still have a long way to go," Robare said. "A long way to go."

Experts on domestic violence agree. National statistics indicate one-fourth to one-third of women will suffer some form of domestic abuse.

In Vermont, as the number of assaults has grown, attacks have increased in brutality, said Sarah Kenney, public-policy coordinator for the Vermont Network.

"What's really troubling is that the severity of the violence they are experiencing is increasing," she said. "The level of violence that victims are experiencing is more and more vicious."

Abuse is a societal issue that police, courts and support agencies are becoming more adept in handling, but the problem remains pervasive, said Anera Foco, executive director of Women Helping Battered Women, a Burlington support agency.

"We need to go back a little further and say, 'What do we need to do to start eradicating this?'" she said.

That question is one the Legislature hopes to answer. The first step is to understand the trend; even among experts, there is little more than speculation about why domestic violence is on the rise. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has held four Thursday sessions that focused on expert testimony, plans to hear from abuse victims, children who grew up in abusive homes and perpetrators themselves before the session ends, Sears said.

"We need to target, long-range, one of the most prevalent crimes in Vermont," he said. "We're going to keep listening, we're going to keep asking questions, and we hope to come up with a comprehensive plan."

One woman's success

Robare, who lives in Colchester, is planning to testify before the Judiciary Committee in March. If the Legislature's work goes as planned, Vermont one day might break free of domestic violence, as Robare did.

Her former boyfriend faced federal charges as a deadbeat dad for failing to keep up with child support, Robare said. Although he lives in Arizona, Robare still feels uneasy sometimes and catches herself looking over her shoulder.

Those moments are fleeting, she said. Everything changed seven years ago. She married "a great man who's great to my kids." She earned a degree from Trinity College in family social work. She just started her own housecleaning business.

She has discovered the future she hoped for during her years living with a batterer.

"I always said when I was 40 things were going to be different," she said. "When I turned 40, I graduated from college, I got married. I have a great family with no abuse. I'm blessed, I really am."