#CoerciveControl is said to be #InvisibleInPlainSight. The murders of these family members makes this fact crystal clear. As tightly knit as this community is, it appears that the #CoerciveController was not suspected to be abusive, let alone homicidal.
The mother of the murdered children had filed for divorce.
Separation/Divorce is the most dangerous time for victims of #DomesticAbuse, #DomesticViolence and coercive control. #CoerciveControlExperts know the signs of escalating coercive control. The person who sent police to check on the mother must have understood what might be happening. Yet the murders were not prevented. Why? Because our system is currently designed to protect the perpetrators and not the victims. #VictimBlaming is rampant worldwide. We need #SystemicTransformation to fill the enormous gaps in the systems that are failing to protect victims. We need to address the attitudes that are keeping abuse in place and helping abusers justify coercive and controlling behaviors. We need to learn the #8stagesofhomicide, and put policies and practices in place worldwide to intervene, before coercive control escalates to stage 8.
Victims are drowning in #PsychoSocialQuicksand, not only because of the coercive controller's actions, but because of the failure of systems to recognize the coercive control, believe the victims, and protect them from escalating abuses of power.
Please stop emboldening coercively controlling abusers! Please stop protecting them from consequences! Please stop enabling them to continue creating chaos, and destroying innocent lives.
