Safe & Together Institute, formerly David Mandel and Associates, offering Safe and Together E-Learning Classes, blogs and trainings!

Heralding a New Level of Awareness of What Needs Fixing in the  Family and Child Social Services Systems, David Mandel and Associates--now Safe and Together Institute  (www.endingviolence.com) has made a mark not only through decades of experience but with important reform measures to help Women and Victims of Abuse Stay Safe and Together with their Children. See the sites also of LundyBancroft.com, BarryGoldstein.net and BMCC.org

Actually that is about the Children staying Safe and Together with Their Mothers (for the most part) or primary caregiver. We have gone from giving families miles of privacy and sequestering family matters behind many an agencies closed doors to realizing We Really Need to Know How to Help Women Keep their Kids Safe and not lose them to the abuser or the systems which often Favored MEN.

Maybe the pendulum of custody or accountability went from against Dads at one time to To Dads, hands down, no questions asked. But that has been Changning at least Theoretically and with many outreaches worth their salt and keeping children and women safe (and that means together by and large) when there are abusive control, intimidation or injurious tactics by a male father or figure. These are complex problems that have evolved out of historical and social norms in our country (and most countries.)

The more the community seeks to learn about the dynamics (a word one person who is perfectly bright and deals with an arrary of issues and personalities emphatically states they do NOT like to think about life in terms of..) but the Stuff ( or doo-doo) people have to deal with even if there are breaks along the way, the better prepared to Intervene early on or in meaningful ways longterm..having programs, drop off centers (libraries or school playgrounds, supervised centers near or at police stations or in other appropriate places with infomed personnel and ideally a window of 10 minutes between parents or others exchanging care of the child/ren.) Okay, more on that another time, but the overall hope is all younger students could be educated about domestic abuse in homes along with school bullying and see that two are not that different and both are dangerous or harmful to one or both parties (and bystanders.) No one gets a free pass when abuse is on the loose like a mighty moose!