INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW PRESENTATION

Kim Keltch, MSWDomestic Violence Services Coordinator

City of Pasco Police department

P.O. Box 293525 N. 3rd AvenuePasco, Washington 99301

509-544-3068Fax: 509-545-3423keltchk@pasco-wa.govM-F 8:30am – 5:00pm

www.Pasco-WA.gov

By Sergio Castaneda

WHY DID I CHOOSE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?

There a number of reasons why I decided to focus on domestic violence. One of those reason is due to my personal experience with it. I see family as a sacred part of our lives here on earth. And I have seen first hand the damage dv can cause to a family when its allowed to happen. Emmanuel Kant says, “Examples are the cartwheels of judgment.” Unless we start correcting those bad examples we will always have bad judgment.

As pupils in the study of social work; once outfitted with all the right tools we are going to become key players in correcting some of those bad examples.

WHAT SERVICES DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION OFFER?

• Agency provides law enforcement and community Safety

• In her role she works 24/7 at the call of department to assist victims of domestic violence

• In that role she is able to go to interact with victims

• Most interactions are over the phone. • During the initial contact with victims we help

them make arrangements for protection, transportation, connection to resources.

• I am a certified dv trainer for the department. I participate in trainings to stay current on best practices.

• I train the officers on how to do community training.

WHAT ARE THE INDIVIDUAL’S JOB DUTIES?WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY CONSIST OF?

1. Read email2. Listen to voicemail3. Read over reports : 3-5 dv reports per day (1300 to 1500 a year),

from the review follow up with whatever intervention is necessary.4. I receive the dv docket for the day; review cases for Pasco municipal

court, participate in no contact order recession hearings. 5. Monday and Tuesday are big days in court.6. Work with prosecutors to set up victim interviews and support victim

during that time.7. Any given day there is a walk in with protection order. When that

happens my days stops and that gets my full attention.8. I attend a variety of community meetings to stay up on what

resources are available and continue to network with other agencies.9. No typical day!

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB? WHAT DO YOU LIKE LEAST?

I get to work in all aspects. One of the most exciting things right now is working with the defense attorneys to fully understand what domestic violence is and understanding when victims use violence. Cross education is where my passion is; getting the education and information not just within the law enforcement systems, the judicial, probation but into the bigger community about having healthy families, makes for having a healthier community which makes a growing economy. I happen to be in a place where am allowed to cross those lines.

I dislike bureaucracy. The challenges of being a very broad thinking out of the box, lets solve the problem is not that big a deal what do we need to do to fix it. The militaristic top down control system. These are the challenges. I am very clear in my faith. Landing in this position was not an accident. Whatever challenge is presented to me I step back and ask for guidance from God on how to get past that particular hurdle to move forward. Its interesting to me that as a social worker and as my faith becomes stronger, my networking becomes stronger and powerful, I make progress with one person at a time. I have stories I can relate to my work.

FOLLOW UP QUESTION…BASED ON YOUR EXPERIENCE IN YOUR POSITION AND WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT HEALTHY FAMILIES. LOOKING AT THE LATINO COMMUNITY AND THE SHAPE THAT IS IN…WHAT DO YOU SEE, WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT IS MISSING? WHAT IS GOING TO TAKE TO GET TO A HEALTHY THRIVING COMMUNITY?

One of the greatest works that is being done right now is through the center for sharing and Broetje Orchards. Providing the Servant Leadership classes which ultimately is about respect for individuals. My understanding of the Hispanic community is extended families, support etc. There is an imbalance of power within that. I get the whole Machismo piece, but I also sense that comes out of a powerlessness; if he is feeling good about his ability to take care for his families, he is respecting his wife which passes on to the children, which ends up in school; creating a healthier environment. Those families need to be embraced and supported.The Machismo is the bravado that covers feelings powerlessness; in my little understanding.

One of my thoughts that came to mind as you were talking about families, the thought that came up is how much of this work is about restoring the male?

I get a chance to talk to the perpetrator and provide resources based on what they want to do. So they can figure out what they need to do different. If he is not restored and made whole to feel good about himself. He cannot respect his wife, his children, his house his job. Then he takes the short cut, we will go sell drugs or you know do crazy stuff. It all comes back to basics. There is nothing wrong wit having one single provider; having one parent staying home taking care of the children. We have an arraignment attorney. Because I work within the system and I present with a holistic approach to families and communities; the attorneys allow me access with them or separate with their clients to present options. At some point the court will require them to do what I am recommending they do it will make a difference when they are meeting with judge asking for a no contact order to be removed I can then speak on their behalf. Its about restoration of him and the whole family; it’s the piece that makes the most sense to me.

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE CAUSES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?

Beyond the loss of life DV I can’t quoted specifically It’s the number one cause of injury to women in the country; greater than heart disease and cancer. It is job loss time, expense to the medical community; when you talk about the Hispanic community you are also talking about uninsured a lot of them which is an additional expense and burden to the community (big sigh!) The cost of self esteem, self respect. There is a huge cost to children; they live what they learn. If they don’t have good examples they will suffer. Without the extended care of family they will suffer. A lot of the time it will be hard to engage in school.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF INTERVENTION?

With both of them is essentially knowing there they are in the process and are they willing to hear options for changings. For victims is having that opportunity at crisis, when law enforcement is intervening. Which is the best time to talk about what she wants and being able to make that plan. Its not always about building this huge safety plan; its about right this moment and making sure that she has enough choice to start to heal. She hasn’t had that opportunity to make choices. I have the luxury because of being a systems advocate to initiated that trust . Community advocates don’t get to be that direct. Intervention is about baby steps. Building that external network not just about stashing money and other important papers. Its about talking to doctor, school and letting them know what's going on to start building that safety network. Building their confidence.

WHAT DOES HE/SHE THINK ARE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF PREVENTION?

All which gets translated to the children is the prevention aspect of that. When children see the additional safety and when both parties get the services they need to learn how to communicate, have discussions and disagreements without violence and name calling then we are working prevention on the next generation. More community education.What I have notice in the prevention that I’ve done is more individuals willing to report dv. Since last fall there has been a larger number of rolling domestics being called in. A rolling domestic is a domestic that is being happening in the car. Someone witnesses one or the other pounding on the other. We never know what is going to happen. Its not about big brother butting up but if you hear something going on in the apartment next door; and you don’t want to make that due to being embarrassed. What would make you more embarrassed, having the policy come out and discovering the TV was on too loud, or three days later smelling a foul order coming from the apartment next door. Which would rather live with?

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE CORRELATION BETWEEN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND IMMIGRATION NATURALIZATION?

Victims of domestic violence are able to petition for a U-Visa to be able to stay and that visa extends to them and the children. It’s a long process the expectation by the court system is that they are cooperative in every way shape or fashion with holding the abuser accountable. You assist in the persecution you don’t come in and ask for the no contact order to be dropped. You don’t come in and beg the court for the no contact order to be dropped. You don’t come in begging the court (in a mocking voice) he is such a good daddy, I need him. One of the challenges is getting the women to believe they can do it on their own. There is nothing true about a man who hurts his partner that is a good daddy.

WHAT DO YOU THINK FUTURE SOCIAL WORKERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?

You have to be open to each families circumstances. One size doesn’t fit all in any circumstance of social work. We have the broad understanding of power and control and how that impacts each member of the family. But the intervention with that family is a case by case basis. The greater you fill up your tool kit with experiences knowledge training language the better you are able to address those individual circumstances and to answer those question in the community – why is this still a problem? Because we have created a stable community yet. At some level it is socially acceptable.You will learn to measure your success differently because the enormity of what we are dealing with in terms of youth and dv is so huge that you have to be able to pick those pieces where you have success. It doesn’t have to be a huge success. Getting one of the victims I work with write a declaration to the court for sentencing which wasn’t a large sentence. It only added a few more months to the sentence. But seeing the physical change in her in terms of her standing up being able to go to the court when he was being sentenced.. .seeing her go from nervous and not knowing what to do or say to hearing her say I don’t care I can’t feel anything and seeing her smile; that is success.

Break the silence509-544-3068