BusinessReport.com

More than 13,400 women and their children sought services from the state’s 20 domestic violence programs last year. Experts say more victims are out there—they’re just too scared or ashamed to come forward.

Ashamed? The shame should fall on us. That much violence behind closed doors is disturbing and intolerable. But even if you consider this social problem hard to fathom and far removed, consider its extensive ripple effects.

According to the Department of Justice, more than half the country’s survivors have children under age 12. Their exposure will make them more likely to commit violence themselves, the National Council on Family Relations reports.

Furthermore, a landmark Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study in 2003 found the health-related costs of assault, stalking, rape and murder inflicted by an intimate partner exceeds $5.8 billion annually. The same study found that the country loses $1.8 billion a year in wages and productivity because of family violence.

Victims’ advocates say one of the toughest battles is getting people to get beyond the knee-jerk question, “Why doesn’t she just leave?”

There are myriad complex reasons, but let’s not forget that lots of them do. What greets them on the other side are immense challenges, however, not least of which is money, says State Sen. Cheryl A. Gray, a Democrat from New Orleans.

Even if they’ve been employed, many survivors had been forced to turn over their paychecks to their abusers under threat of harm to themselves or their children. They often have nothing in the bank.

“When you think about domestic violence, often the person perpetrating the violence also controls the purse strings,” she says.

Gray, a former state representative, became interested in what other states were doing to give survivors a fighting chance. As of 2005, 27 states had made it possible for women who quit their jobs in the process of leaving abuser to claim unemployment benefits.

Last year, Gray sponsored the Lost Wage Benefits for Domestic Violence Victims bill, which makes Louisiana domestic violence victims eligible for unemployment.

“There has been a rise in acts of violence related to domestic violence in the workplace, which puts the public and those they work with in danger as well,” she says.

Employers and their advocates backed the bill if it called for the creation of an ancillary account and did not draw from the state’s unemployment compensation trust fund, which pays regular claims. The domestic violence program is currently funded with $350,000 in state general funds and must be renewed on an annual basis.

Notwithstanding those impediments, Gray was encouraged by the bill’s passage and is working with local shelters and the Governor’s Office on Women’s Policy to inform survivors.

Under the Louisiana program, a domestic violence victim must follow the same eligibility requirements of other unemployment benefit claimants, including having worked during the last 18 months. Similarly, she can receive benefits for up to 26 weeks per claim.

A victim must also present documentation that proves her circumstances, including a protective order, an affidavit from a battered women’s shelter, a law enforcement record and medical documentation by a licensed health care worker or others.

Within the program’s first three months, 20 women applied and more than $26,000 in benefits was paid. One-third of claimants had relocated, supporting the point that victims often need to leave town to be safe. The average total weekly benefit paid was $220.

“These benefits are vital to equipping working women in desperate situations with necessary tools that promote self-sufficiency, women who would otherwise have no alternative to placing themselves in danger while at their workplace,” says Shanta Harrison Proctor, executive director of the Governor’s Office on Women’s Policy, which funds the state’s 20 family violence programs.

Gray will ask for the pilot program’s continuation and renewed funding during the upcoming regular legislative session. It makes good financial sense to keep these women afloat, and it makes sense to keep abusers away from the workplace.

It’s also the right thing to do.