"Two Whidbey Island women, both in their 70s, lived with abuse from the hands of their own adult sons. One son was emotionally abusive and intimidating. The other physically abused his frail mother.Both of the women recently sought help from the Citizens Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse, a local non-profit agency that specializes in services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child sexual abuse and elder abuse.Unfortunately, these women are rare among the elderly who are in abusive relationships, according to Valerie Stafford, executive director of CADA. Few reach out for help since the elderly tend to be isolated and often very dependant on their abusers.It’s these types of “hidden victims,” Stafford said, that two of CADA’s three new projects are targeted at. CADA was recently awarded more than $250,000 in grants from the state for three new projects.Stafford said first two projects take a similar approach in reaching out to the “under-served populations.” One project takes a look at the elderly and disabled people and the other is focused on minority women — especially those who do not speak English — in the North Whidbey area. Stafford said the barrier to getting help for both the groups of “invisible people” is, in part, that they simply don’t know what resources are available.To reach out to the populations, she said CADA will be training “gatekeepers” to recognize the signs of abuse and give out information about ways to get help. The gatekeepers are people in the community — like hairdressers, bank tellers and utility workers — who have contact with all kinds of people.CADA will also use the grant money to conduct a community needs assessment and design new services for elderly and disabled victims based on the assessment. The services may include things like crisis intervention, counseling, legal advocacy and safe, accessible shelter.The third grant will go towards something that local law enforcement officials have wanted for a long time — a new child interview room.Stafford said that the purpose of the interview room is so that young victims of sexual assault won’t have to be interviewed over and over again. The grant money will pay to equip an interview room with an observation window so that one or more agencies can access the interview information. In addition, the room will be furnished with audio and video equipment along with a youthful decor to put the child at ease.“When a child has been sexually assaulted, the last thing they need is to be interrogated by groups of strangers, in cold institutional rooms, more than once,” Stafford said.The three projects are over and above the traditional services CADA offers and will require an increase in both staff and volunteers. Since each project will be launched with grant funds, Stafford said financial support from the community will be needed to make a long-term impact. "

To leave a comment, you will need to register an account with our site (or use your Facebook login).

We'll be gathering feedback on this process, so please give the new features a try and let us know how we can improve.