A seven-year-old boy wrote a heart wrenching letter to Santa on Christmas from SafeHaven of Tarrant County, in Fort Worth, Texas. The boy is living in a domestic violence shelter with his mother. The handwritten letter was found by his mother a few weeks ago in his backpack and she shared it with the staff. The shelter shared the post on Wednesday morning and by evening it garnered around 600 shares.
Blake and his mother shifted to the emergency shelter after enduring violence from Blake's father. For the family's safety the child's name was changed to Blake. The Tarrant County shelter CEO and president Kathryn Jacob told the media that Blake's story is like every story they see, it is so pervasive.
The count of abuse by a partner in USA is very high
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, the average count of abuse by a partner in the US is 20 people per minute. In the USA, one in every four women and one in every nine men experience severe abuse by their intimate partner which impacts the person mentally and physically. The statistics in USA also says that one in every four women and one in every seven men endure physical violence by their partner in their lifetime. These crimes account to 15 percent of the crimes in the country.
Shelter is housing around 74 children and 45 women
While the letter by Blake has brought awareness to the impact on children, Jacob says that there should be more attention given to the high amount of intimate partner violence happening in the country. She said that the holidays sees an uptick of people needing the shelter services.
The shelter is housing around 74 children and 45 women who were victims of domestic violence. The maximum capacity for the shelter is 164 people. The length of the stay depends on eight to 10 weeks in which they are given a safe discharge plan.
