Red silhouettes were displayed on the court house lawn to honor victims of domestic violence in October.
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The Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women has awarded Hillsdale County a grant to improve its criminal justice response to domestic violence.

The nearly $500,000 grant will include funding for Domestic Harmony’s legal advocate program, and allow Judge Megan Stiverson of the 2B District Court to establish a Domestic Violence Court.

Domestic Harmony is a local domestic violence shelter that provides housing, counseling, and legal counseling to Michigan residents in need.

“We have to have a coordinated community response to domestic violence,” said Hannah Jordan, executive director of Domestic Harmony. “I’m really passionate about that because change will only happen when you’ve got the whole community on board.”

The grant is for the next four years and will allow for a closer handling of domestic violence cases in the county by hiring a dedicated probation officer and case manager for domestic violence, stalking, and misdemeanor-level sexual assault crimes in the county.

Stiverson emphasized the importance of the court being “approachable” for victims. 

“Approaching this Domestic Violence Court holistically and creating a coordinated community response will lead to better outcomes, from fast-tracking domestic violence cases, to increasing victim support and communication, and increasing offender accountability and supervision,” she said in a press release from Domestic Harmony.

Across the last 15 years, the number of domestic violence victims in the county has been slowly trending down year-over-year, according to Michigan State Police data.

From 2012 to 2022, the percentage of domestic violence victims to total criminal offenses in Hillsdale County have decreased from 20% to 8%.

In 2012, there were 321 domestic violence victims and 1,576 total criminal offenses in the county. 

In 2022, the most recent year available, domestic violence victims had dropped to 252, while total criminal offenses increased to 3,252.

In 2007, there were 462 domestic violence victims. The lowest year since that was 2019, when there were 155 victims. The number increased during the COVID pandemic, spiking at 270 in 2021, before decreasing again in 2022.

While the numbers have dropped over the years, Jordan said Domestic Harmony’s services are in just as high demand as ever.

“We have six rooms and all of them are full,” Jordan said. “As soon as one family leaves, there’s another family in there.”

Jordan said it has been like this consistently all year. Sometimes, they even have more families needing shelter than they have room for.

“We don’t have a waitlist,” Jordan said. “If someone needs shelter, we are going to make it work, or at least help get them to a safe situation. We’ll even refer them to shelters in Coldwater, Jackson, or Adrian if we don’t have room.”

Jordan said many of the women and children that end up in Domestic Harmony are in the lower socioeconomic sphere, meaning they often don’t have the resources to leave abusive situations. 

“It’s a mountain to climb, but if you are in that situation, give us a call,” Jordan said. “You don’t just need to come in for shelter either, we also offer counseling and other services.”

Judge Stiverson said with the minimal resources Hillsdale County currently has to address domestic violence, she hopes the new court will make a huge difference.

“Rural innovation is necessary when dealing with issues of violence in a community where funding, services, and other resources are at a minimum in comparison with other parts of the state,” she said.

Heather Upton, executive director of the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Hillsdale, said her organization often finds domestic violence is involved when children are removed by social services.

“Most of the cases we have, the removal is due to substance abuse issues, but oftentimes domestic violence was [also] going on in the home,” Upton said.

Upton also said she is also hopeful the court will be able to better serve families with its more specialized focus.

“Childhood trauma is a real thing, and witnessing domestic violence can affect children in the same way as if they were the ones being abused,” Upton said. “I think it [the court] could help a lot of families in our communities.”

Jamie Wisniewski, chief assistant prosecutor for Hillsdale County, said she believes the court will have a positive impact on addressing the root issues of domestic violence. 

“I think it will be an amazing resource for the community,” she said. “This program should be a step in the right direction so we stop seeing the same people in court over and over again and ultimately have fewer victims.”

Wisniewski said in many communities there would be multiple different services assisting families and victims, while Hillsdale only has Domestic Harmony.

Jordan said some of the biggest issues facing victims in a rural county like Hillsdale are the lack of transportation, housing, and policing.

“There are some places in the county that you might call the police, but it is a 45-minute drive before anyone could get there,” Jordan said.

Jordan said this is especially hard because often victims will wait until the very last minute to call.

According to a report from the Michigan State Police, the majority of the domestic violence cases in the county are of “intimate partner violence,” which is what Domestic Harmony specializes in.

Wisniewski said while intimate partner violence is a big problem, she thinks Hillsdale County has a unique problem because of the number of multi-generational families.

“It’s not always violence between partners,” she said. “You hit the domestic violence criteria in a lot of different situations. The assumption is that it is intimate partner violence, but there can be so many other situations.”

Jordan said she’s had many cases of the victims returning to their abusive partner, which is very common, especially in intimate partner situations.

“It’s a cycle of violence,” she said. “It’s hard for people when they do love someone and they hope they will change, but they don’t.”

Wisniewski said that she sees the same thing in her experience.

“We have a lot of people with limited means, meaning they are limited in if they can leave the situation,” she said. “We see the same victims over and over again.”

Jordan said that, even in situations where they have worked with the family before, they are always willing to help the next time the victim decides to act.

“We understand that going back is a part of domestic violence at home,” Jordan said. “We just hope they remember for next time that we are right here.” 

Readers can contact Domestic Harmony at (888) 439-1454. The program is always looking for additional volunteer help and has a list of needs. 

City of Hillsdale Chief of Police Scott Hephner and the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Office could not be reached for comments.