Sanders County Coalition battles child abuse
Crystal Buchanan, her husband and daughter had their work cut out for them last week when they placed 875 pinwheels in the grassy strip in downtown Plains.
The work took some time but for them, it was more than worth it. The pinwheels represent the number of children of Sanders County who have suffered domestic or sexual abuse in the last 20 years.
“We did it last year at the courthouse lawn last year in Thompson Falls to raise awareness of the problem, but we wanted to expand it and Mayor Dan Rowan and Public Works Director Greg Welty were both great to work with,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan is the outreach and volunteer coordinator for the Sanders County Coalition for Familes. It was founded in 1993 and and has worked to provide several services to victims of crime, particularly on victims of domestic and sexual violence, child abuse and stalking.
According to the Coalition’s executive director, Gayle Seratt, the number of children reported abused in the last 20 years is data they’ve collected from victims they’ve worked to help.
“We serve about 165 to 180 victims annually,” Seratt said. “The victims and abusers don’t fit any particular type, they are typically mult-layered. The abuse can be domestic, sexual or even financial.
“The kids may be used as pawns and it’s not gender specific, either,” Seratt said
Drugs and alcohol, elements in abuse cases, can exacerbate the problem, but they aren’t the causes of abuse, Seratt said.
She also pointed out how abuse is passed down from one generation to the next in families and how difficult it is to break the cycle.
Seratt also talked about the ‘Power and Control’ chart which describes how an abuser maintains control over the victim. They may use intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, minimizing, denying and blaming, children as pawns, male privilege, economic abuse and coercion and threats.
Physical and sexual assaults, or threats to commit them, are the most apparent forms of domestic violence and are usually the actions that allow others to become aware of the problem. However, regular use of other abusive behaviors by the batterer, when reinforced by one or more acts of physical violence, make up a larger system of abuse.
Although physical assaults may occur only once or occasionally, they instill threat of future violent attacks and allow the abuser to take control of the woman’s life and circumstances.
The Coalition, primarily funded through federal and state grant programs with additional financial support supplied by private foundations or donations, hopes to return to more normal operating conditions this week.
“Since the COVID restrictions went into place, we went from getting 200 to 300 crisis calls per monthly to none,” Seratt said. “That was a huge red flag for me.
“We knew with perpetrators of abuse being home with their victims, the abused couldn’t call and had no opportunity to reach out,” Seratt said. “It will change once we get closer to more normal conditions.”
She said the Coalition is getting a temperature scanner this week and will work to determine if those seeking help are out of state and are symptomatic. Staff members will be wearing masks and gloves, too, and there will be plenty of hand sanitizer in the building.
Those seeking help, may contact the Coalition on an anonymous and confidential basis at its helpline at 406-827-3745 or 1-800-265-0415 or at the office at 406-827-3218.
“We try to help in any we can,” Seratt said. “A person will seek help when they are ready to. Typically, victims suffer abuse five to eight times before they get help.”
They are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Silcox Building in Thompson Falls.
Volunteers answer the helplines after regular hours and on weekends.
The Coalition’s website at sccff.org also provides a great deal of information.
