Lai is a 38-year-old woman with three children and a husband who beats her every time he drinks. He drinks almost every night. She would like to get a job and start a new life for herself and her children, she said. But first she must learn to read and write. Like others at the Good Shepherd Domestic Violence Protection center in Hualien, Lai has low self-esteem, made worse by a lack of work-related skills.
Her counselor said that by next week she'll be back with her husband.
"I have no way of making my own money. If I divorce him now, how could I take care of my children? I can't even read the divorce papers," said Lai, who out of fear that her husband would beat her for talking to media, asked not to be identified.
The Hualien Good Shepherd Center provides psychological counseling, legal advisers and medical services for victims of domestic abuse. They also have an emergency shelter for those who qualify for funding from the local government.
The shelter has space for eight women, but it doesn't have the funding to provide daycare services, so if a woman enrolls in a job training or literacy course she must first find someone to watch her kids.
Hence, women like Lai, whose son is at home with her husband, will likely go back. But then, when her husband gets drunk and hits her head so hard against the kitchen wall she ends up in the hospital, again, she'll eventually go back to the shelter.
It's not her first time and it won't be her last, said Wu Wen-fung (吳汶芳) a Good Shepherd social worker. Roughly 80 percent of the women who go to the shelter leave after one-to-three weeks. "Many of them, we see again," Wu said. "It's a cycle and it won't be broken until Hualien opens a halfway house."
Emergency shelters are typically dormitory-style rooms inside an office building. A halfway house, however, is a home in a local community where women and children can stay for longer periods of time to regain control over their lives, physically, emotionally and mentally, before moving out on their own.
Good Shepherd Center CEO Chen Zai-hui (陳在惠) and his employees have drafted a proposal for a halfway house that will accommodate five families and one in-house social worker. The first floor will provide counseling, job training and daycare services, so women can work or attend school.
The reason there is no halfway house in Hualien now is not for lack of want or need, it's for lack of money.
The facility will cost NT$2 million a year to run. It is estimated at least half will have to come from public donations, the rest will depend on the county government's budget for next year, Chen said.
This year's budget for [dealing with] domestic violence and sexual assault in Hualien is NT$9.95 million. "Based on the manpower we have right now, this budget is enough," said Chen Wen-chi (陳玟祺), the women and children section chief of the Bureau of Social Affairs in Hualien County.
The social work director at the Good Shepherd Center, however, sees it a different way. Hsiao Jui-yun (蕭瑞雲) said once administration costs are subtracted, less than 10 percent of the money is spent on women who need help. It's not enough, she said.
Statistics provided by the bureau's office showed 800 cases of domestic abuse and sexual assault filed last year. The office said they had no way of determining how many are strictly cases of domestic abuse.
Good Shepherd has between 40 to 50 clients per year, but the number of women filing reports of abuse is substantially higher.
"I can only hire more employees and counselors if we get the funding," Hsiao said.
Last year Taipei City Government allocated NT$1.06 billion to its Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center.
"Because the Taipei City Government and council support the women and kids issues, a larger portion of the city's annual budget was used for the protection of women and children that year," said director of the center Tung Fu-chuan (童富泉).
Statistics from the Taipei center showed 3,390 cases of domestic
violence or sexual assault filed last year. It's four times the number of cases in Hualien, yet the considerably larger budget allots twice the amount of money to each case in Taipei.
With a larger tax paying population, Taipei City Government has more money available for social issues than smaller counties. Even so, the local government made a point last year of increasing budget spending on domestic violence. Hualien did not increase its budget spending because, "the budget is enough," according to the social affairs bureau in Hualien.
In January 1998, the national government passed the Domestic Violence and Protection Act. It reads: "Each level of local government shall create and maintain a domestic violence prevention center by incorporating efforts from police administration, education, health, social administration, household administration and judicial units to engage in psychological support, employment and housing guidance."
In 1998 the Hualien social affairs bureau signed a contract with the Good Shepherd Center to provide emergency housing and counseling to victims of domestic abuse in Hualien county.
Before either of the two social workers at the center can consult a client, the victim must first be evaluated by one of the bureau's 11 workers to determine whether or not the victim qualifies for financial and mental support. Many women never see inside the shelter, because there's just too many calls and some won't qualify for funding.
There is no law that limits the amount of funding a woman can receive while under the care of a social worker. Wu said, regardless of how many times the shelter applies for funding, the average amount a woman receives is NT$25,000 to NT$40,000. Depending on how many children she has, the money normally lasts two-to-three months. Sometimes, she said, it's not long enough.
"Three months is too short for women to get any proper training or work experience. And it's too short for them to really think about what they want. It's one of the reasons why so many go back [to their husbands], Wu said.
The Good Shepherd Foundation in Taipei (not associated with the center in Hualien) operates a halfway house in Taipei. Originally it belonged to the city government, but in 1992 Good Shepherd was asked to take it over on the condition that the Taipei city Government would provide funding.
The length of time a woman remains at the house depends on her individual situation, said Tang Jing-Lian (湯靜蓮), a representative with the foundation.
"Every case is different, some women need a few years," she said, recalling one woman who came to the foundation after her husband poured acid on her face. For nearly two years she received medical treatment, counseling, legal aid and eventually help in finding her own apartment.
The Garden of Hope Foundation also runs a halfway house in Taipei. CEO of the foundation Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) said, even if a women chooses to leave the house after a few months that it doesn't mean the end of the assistance.
"They don't need to live in the house to receive aid, if they want to move out, we can still provide counseling, training and legal aid wherever they go," she said.
It's not to suggest Hualien county government isn't concerned about the welfare of women and children Chen said, but fortunately, he added, there are individuals who can and want to donate money.
Domestic abuse shelters established outside of Taipei city by the Garden of Hope Foundation (in Miaoli and Taitung) and Taipei Good Shepherd Foundation (in Tainan, Taichung, Hsinchu and Taipei counties) are all fully financed by charitable donations.
When asked what he will do if the government turns down his proposal for a halfway house next year, Chen said, "We will fundraise. We will hold activities and solicit more organizations for donations. But with the government, all we can do is keep submitting new proposals and wait."
The same goes for Lai.
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