Domestic abuse is at the crossroad of the major societal issues of murder, crisis pregnancies and homelessness – and generations are affected. The statistics presented here reflect the critical nature of Wing Haven’s services. Wing Haven is the only organization that will provide relocation services and a full service place of safety for a year to abused women, including pregnant women, and their children.

Wing Haven will...

• Save lives (including the unborn)
  
  • A woman is physically abused every 8-15 seconds.¹
    
  • Approximately 1-3 million women are abused per year.²
    
  • 40 percent of abuse begins during the first pregnancy.³
    
  • On average, more than 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day.⁴
    
  • 40-60% of men who batter women also abuse children.⁵
    
  • 90% of children killed in their homes are under the age of 10, and 56% of the child victims are under the age of 2.⁶
    
  • Children who witness violence are 6 times more likely to commit suicide.⁷
    
• End the generational cycle of violence
  
  • Children from abusive homes tend to seek violent relationships as adults. Up to 60% of boys witnessing violence become batterers, and up to 50% of girls become victims.⁸
    
  • A child's exposure to the father abusing the mother is the strongest risk factor for transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next.⁹
    
• Offer an alternative to homelessness
  
  • The typical homeless family is composed of a single mother with between two and three children who average five years of age; 50% of these families are fleeing domestic violence.¹⁰

¹ http://www.thecoalition.org/education/dvstats.html
² http://www.endabuse.org/resources/facts
³ http://www.americanpregnancy.org/main/statistics.html
⁴ Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003
⁵ http://www.thecoalition.org/education/dvstats.html
⁶ http://www.thecoalition.org/education/dvstats.html
⁷ Kroeger & Nason-Clark, No Place for Abuse, p. 83
⁸ http://www.thecoalition.org/education/dvstats.html
⁹ American Psychological Association, Violence and the Family: Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family,1996
¹⁰ http://www.snbw.org/Lifeline/housing.htm