No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us

by Rachel Louise Snyder

In response to a New Yorker article in which I covered many of these same points, a reader wrote in: As the founder of one of the country’s first shelters, I reject the statement … that shelters are, in effect, a ‘ticket to welfare.’ High Risk Teams are an important innovation, but they reach only a fraction of victims who are already known to law enforcement or service providers. The model is most effective as part of a comprehensive approach to preventing domestic violence that includes shelter. Shelters provide safe housing and trauma support for individuals and families, the vast majority of whom have endured chronic abuse, poverty, and homelessness. It’s the place where survivors report feeling safe for the first time in their lives. Support services emphasize education, employment, and a pathway to stable, affordable housing. Indeed, our High Risk Team, a partnership of more than twenty-five local agencies, has sent families to shelters on numerous occasions, when shelter was truly their only option.2