| You may have asked the question: Why does she | | | | when the family provides an alternative that is |
| stay? Or why does he put up with that? And you | | | | acceptable to their adult child, this alternative option is |
| may be familiar with the laundry list of inner and | | | | more likely to be taken advantage of...and used as a |
| outer reasons why people in abusive relationships | | | | safety net in time of need. |
| stay. | | | | However, what families more often want is to |
| There are a few "tipping-point" factors to this | | | | provide alternatives that are acceptable --and |
| decision. Seeing other options is the number one key | | | | desirable-- to them. And as this is done, they struggle |
| to leaving an abusive relationship in the moment that | | | | with not understanding why their abused adult child |
| leaving is ever so right. But very few domestic | | | | chooses the abusive relationship over their "other" |
| violence survivors have this in place when they need | | | | option. |
| it most. | | | | If you have a son or daughter in an abusive |
| How can we help those entangled in an abusive | | | | relationship, find an option that she/he would be |
| relationship to create these "other" options well | | | | willing to exercise when the next boiling point occurs. |
| before they need to exercise them? | | | | In doing so, you will have given your son or daughter |
| In working with families, in which daughters (or sons) | | | | a path to safety and a means for ending an abusive |
| are entangled in domestic abuse, I have noticed that | | | | relationship before it spirals out of control. |