Caught in the Crossfire: Children at Risk Over Adult Violence

She was seven years old when she was shot on Appoline Street in Detroit in April.

Her father allegedly pulled the trigger after a heated domestic argument resulting in the arrest of her father, who barricaded himself afterward according to a local report.

Her story is like countless others locally and nationwide, a tragic story in which children bear the brunt of violence because they’re caught in the crossfire of adult rage. This violence is a major public health and human rights concern according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). An estimated 1 billion children—half of all the children in the world—are victims of violence every year, according to CDC statistics.

Raynard Nelson, a school social worker at Detroit Public Schools Community District, has seen it all when it comes to youth-targeted violence which the pandemic, he says, exacerbated.

“COVID … has shed the light on the dire need of mental health services,” he said, adding that child abuse cases, domestic violence incidents and more have “increased significantly.”

Nelson said that he has heard of stories of children dying unintentionally as a result of arguments and domestic violence among the parents.

“I learned as a kid [that] cooler heads prevail — sometimes it’s best if a mother and father having a dispute or disagreement to … walk away,” he said. “It takes a special person to be able to walk away … more people need to walk away and disagree and deal with that conflict in a rational mind.”

That’s the idea in mind behind the World Health Organization’s “INSPIRE: Seven strategies for Ending Violence Against Children.” A mediation guide, it includes steps to help end violence against children from at home, school and beyond. The strategies include:

Ensure the implementation and enforcement of laws to prevent violent behaviors, reduce excessive alcohol use and limit youth access to firearms and other weapons.
Strengthen norms and values that support non-violent, respectful, nurturing, positive and gender-equitable relationships for all children and adolescents.
Create and sustain safe streets and other environments where children and youth gather and spend time.
Reduce harsh parenting practices and create positive parent-child relationships.
Improve families’ economic security and stability and reduce child maltreatment and intimate partner violence.
Improve access to good-quality health, social welfare and criminal justice support services for all children who need them – including for reporting violence – to reduce the long-term impact of violence.

Increase children’s access to more effective, gender-equitable education and social-emotional learning and life-skills training, and ensure that schools environments are safe and enabling.

Nelson said that whenever he and his wife had disagreements, they tried to not do it in front of their children. They will be celebrating 30 years of marriage this July because they choose which arguments are worth it, he said, adding that he understands if some people don’t know how to resolve conflict. They, too, can learn or involve the appropriate mental health authorities to help.

“Ultimately, when you have that situation that can trickle down to our children, particularly our teens — for a lot of teens many of them aren’t aware of how to manage an argument or their anger,” Nelson said, adding that he has encouraged a lot of young people to find positive ways to cope with anger amidst violence that they might be experiencing.

He added that the Detroit Public Schools Community District holds many mental health programs to help change the dynamics with issues teens are facing, especially during Mental Health Awareness Month in May.

“We have to work with our children, let them know [that] although anger is a natural emotion, the key thing is how we express it,” Nelson said. “I do believe if you grew up not knowing how to manage anger you can change. You can learn. It requires a lot of discipline and motivation to want to change.”

For more information on INSPIRE visit https://www.who.int/.