This article discusses the issue of domestic violence on the Main Line area of Pennsylvania. It notes several cases of domestic violence homicides that occurred in Main Line towns between 2002-2008. It discusses how local domestic violence organizations like the Women's Center of Montgomery County and the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County provide services to thousands of victims each year, but still face funding and staffing shortages. The article aims to raise awareness about domestic violence during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October through various events.

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Battered and Blue
Domestic abuse may be the Main Line area’s best-kept secret—and a potentially deadly
one. At least one victim would like to see that change.
B Y D A WPUBLISHED OCTOBER 5, 2010 AT 03:07 PM
N E . W A R D E N
(page 1 of 4)
A lex Wake. Ellen Gregory Robb.
Fred Robinson. Deborah French.
The names may be unfamiliar to you,
but not to the Pennsylvania Coalition
Against Domestic Violence. And until
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they became statistics, the only thing Get our Health
these four individuals had in common & Wellness
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In 2002, Wake, a freshman at the
Baldwin School, was killed with her
mother and grandmother in a senseless
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Four years later, Robb was brutally
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2. wrapping Christmas presents in the
kitchen of her Wayne home. A
Haverford School student at the time,
Robinson was shot by his father in
2008, then witnessed his dad fatally
shoot his mother and himself. Robinson
survived—but that wasn’t the case for Illustration by Dav Bordeleau
French, a Devon resident strangled to
death that same year by her boyfriend while she was house-sitting.
“We get enough calls to recognize that domestic violence is alive and well on the Main Line,” says
Janine Kelly, community educator for the Women’s Center of Montgomery County. “We didn’t just
drop this office out of the sky.”
Like many local domestic violence programs, the Women’s Center depends on state funding, which
hasn’t come easily of late. And yet, when last year’s budget impasse was creating massive cash-flow
problems statewide, Pennsylvania’s network of programs still managed to provide services to more
than 2,500 victims and their children in a single day. A 24-hour census of all 61 domestic violence
programs across the Commonwealth revealed that on Sept. 15 of last year, 1,190 victims were
sheltered and 950 hotline calls were answered.
But on that same day, 365 requests for services—including 247 for housing to escape abuse
—couldn’t be addressed due to staff and money shortages. Last year, more than 100 domestic
violence workers were laid off in Pennsylvania, while programs fielded 3,000 more requests for
shelter than in 2008. Meanwhile, legislation to create additional revenue for services via an
increase in marriage license and divorce-filing fees stalled in the General Assembly, and funding for
services remained flat in the final budget.
Locally in 2009, the Women’s Center received 1,200 referrals from police in 42 of 50 police
departments. It served 330 men and 3,500 women out of its six offices. Elsewhere last year, the In the Current Issue
Domestic Abuse Project of Delaware County offered legal counsel to 3,835 victims; emergency
room personnel at Lankenau Hospital saw 99 patients for domestic-violence-related injuries; and January 2012
the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County served an estimated 3,000 victims.
“Domestic violence is one of the Main Line’s best-kept secrets,” says Terry Moody, the West
Chester-based DVCCC’s director of development and communications. “It’s out there. People just
don’t want to talk about it.” Features
'Backwards' Stars James Van Der Beek and
This October, however, Moody and others want to make sure it will be talked about—a lot. As part Haverford’s Sarah Megan Thomas »
of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, much time and energy will be devoted to a range Top Financial Advisers 2012 »
of events at the local, state and national levels. One is the second annual “Sweet Sunday” on Oct. 3 St. Rocco Church Welcomes Mexican
at Faunbrook Bed & Breakfast in West Chester, benefiting the DVCCC. And the center itself will offer Immigrants in Avondale »
presentations at local churches. Emlen Tunnell: NFL Hall of Famer and All-
Around Nice Guy »
“Until I started working at DVCCC, I had the same perception that most people do—that domestic Empty-Nesters Choose Renovation Over
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violence doesn’t exist to the level that it does,” Moody admits. “But once people knew where I was
working, no matter where I went, at least one or two women would come to me and say, ‘I never Hogfish Grill: Wayne's Work in Progress »
told you before …’ Women I’d known for 10 years. I had no idea.” New and Popular Cosmetic Procedures for
the Face »
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Story continued on page 2 ... Earthquake »
See page 4 for a list of Domestic Abuse Resources. Maria Bello: Actress, Philanthropist,
Kickboxer, Mother and More »
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Reader Com ents:
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I read this article with great interest. I found many of the stories of abuse were not unlike my own story.
For years now, my husband has been both physically and emotionally abusive. He monitors all my
phone calls and emails and keeps tabs on where I am at all times. He controls all of our finances so I
truly am under his thumb. However, to the outside world, ours is the perfect life. Nice home, nice cars,
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beautiful children. I am a smart and educated woman, but being such, I know the repercussions of
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3. leaving my husband. This article reminded me that there are people out there to help. However, as the
article explained, the help that is presently out there for domestically abused individuals is far from
what it needs to be. As for myself, I'm staying where I am for the time being, but this article reminded
me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel...if you can just get yourself to take the first step out
the door.
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