Local school helps heal children
Papi is on time out. He is a bad man. He poked mommy with little sticks.
These are the words of a toddler describing how her father stabbed her mother to death.
On Feb. 6, 2013, Rocio Duncan, 36, was killed in the parking lot of the Imperial Beach sheriff’s substation.
Her estranged husband, Marvin Dennis Duncan, 62, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder.
Duncan was holding their two children when he confessed to sheriff’s deputies, according to authorities.
In a recorded interview with nonprofit group South Bay Community Services, Rocio’s father, Juan Medina, said the trauma his granddaughters experienced is being treated at Mi Escuelita Therapeutic Preschool.
Mi Escuelita Therapeutic Preschool is a program offered through nonprofit South Bay Community Services, which provides free specialized services for 3- to 5-year-olds who have experienced abuse, neglect and domestic violence.
“I see how little by little ... the fear is fading,” Medina said. “I see her real self come out.”
On Oct. 20, the mayor of Chula Vista, social service agency representatives and local law enforcement officials gathered at Mi Escuelita to discuss the effects of domestic violence on children during Domestic Violence Awareness month.
“A lot of times the youngest victims of domestic violence get overlooked, and that’s the children,” said Kathy Lembo, CEO and president of South Bay Community Services. “You read about incidents that have happened and you wonder where the children go. A lot of them are here.”
Today the girls are being raised by Medina and his wife, who adopted them.
Many children of domestic violence are in foster care or being raised by a grandparent or single parent.
Program Director Nancy Pratt, has worked at Mi Escuelita, since it opened in 2006 in partnership with the Chula Vista Elementary School District, to help children heal and prepare them for school.
“There’s a lot of emotion attached to this population, as well as passion and commitment,” Pratt said. “It’s difficult at times, but rewarding all the time.”
Chula Vista police Capt. Roxana Kennedy said that last year four children in Chula Vista witnessed the death of a parent at the hand of another parent.
In addition, Kennedy said, domestic violence calls are the second most common type of call for service following false burglar alarms.
In the 1980s, South Bay Community Services partnered with the Chula Vista Police Department to provide the first 24/7 domestic violence response team for holistic support on domestic violence calls.
This partnership later expanded to National City, Imperial Beach and south San Diego.
Last year, 859 domestic violence calls were received from South County law enforcement, an increase of 24 percent from 2013, according to the Chula Vista Police Department. About 625 of those calls were to the Chula Vista Police Department.
Lembo said that a wait list at Mi Escuelita can reach 90 at any given time.
Because of the need, South Bay Community Services is looking to expand Mi Escuelita to other sites.
Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said the long waiting list and need for another site speaks to the organization’s success.
“Because of their outreach, because of the education in the community, more incidences of domestic violence are being reported,” she said. “Whereas for many years and currently still, people involved in a domestic violence situation at home didn’t report it.”
The University of California San Diego conducted a study of Mi Escuelita students from fall 2006 through spring 2012. It focused on school readiness for the at-risk youths, who subsequently enrolled in the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
The single best predictor of children becoming either perpetrators or victims of domestic violence later in life is whether they grow up in a home where there is domestic violence, according to a report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.
“If you think about the long-term effects of domestic violence and what it does to young children, it can be very devastating,” said Francisco Escobedo, superintendent of the Chula Vista Elementary School District. “Imagine these children in a classroom trying to learn arithmetic and reading, concentrating to do their homework. For some of these children, that’s an impossibility.”
Yet the study revealed that in every category, including reading, writing and math, students did as well or even better than their peers.
The result, Escobedo said, is because of the comprehensive services that children are given at Mi Escuelita.
“In order to reverse violence, you have to do in-depth therapy so kids can think better, feel safe in their environment and be able to interact with one another,” Escobedo said. “What Mi Escuelita does is transform the lives of our children, creating a better future for them.”
