About Veterans of Domestic Wars
As a country, we honor those who served in the military during foreign wars. It makes good sense that we honor them, because many of those soldiers are greatly traumatized, and all of them are certainly impacted by their service in the war for the rest of their lives. Not unlike the veterans of foreign war, many children who have been abused are greatly traumatized, and all of them are certainly impacted by having been abused for the rest of their lives.

Consider the reality that in more than 90% of child abuse cases the perpetrators are people in the child's circle of trust: parents, grandparents, other relatives, etc. Of the other less than 10% of cases, most are perpetrated by someone familiar to the child: teachers, day care workers, neighbors, etc. Less than 3% of cases are perpetrated by strangers. (Child Maltreatment 2003 by Walter R. McDonald and Associates, Page 63, American Humane Association, http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/) Based on that, we can truthfully say that the true danger to children in this country is not the slimy stranger with candy.

A difference between soldiers and children, then, is that those children do not choose to put themselves in the families or situations where their trauma occurred. Another difference is that those children are neither armed nor trained for battle: they are usually completely defenseless. Yet another difference is that the enemy for those children is neither faceless nor nameless... it is, most often, someone in their circle of trust who is supposed to love and nurture them. We could go on...

Many people want to turn away from acknowledging that there is a domestic war taking place every single day in this country... and four children die as a result of it. We are honoring those children who die with the Wall of Tears and Book of Tears. We want, also, to honor those children who survive that war... who grow to adults whose silent screams so often go unheard... and we will call them Veterans of Domestic Wars because that is exactly what they are.

In fact, all Domestic Violence survivors are Veterans of Domestic Wars... whether their Domestic Violence is Child Abuse, InterPersonal Violence, or Elder Abuse... and so are survivors of sexual assault and stalking. We are currently expanding this project to honor all Veterans of Domestic Wars who break their silence!

Veterans of Domestic Wars Survivor Medallions
The first Veterans of Domestic Wars Survivor Medallions were unveiled and awarded at the main event of Child Abuse Awareness Week 2007... to child abuse survivors who submitted to Survivors Speak, Volume One (2007) as well as those who broke their silence at the event. It is our pledge to continue honoring child abuse survivors - as well as other Veterans of Domestic Wars - who have broken their silence by presenting them with their own Veterans of Domestic Wars Survivor Medallions.          read more