Task Force Information

Animal Abuse Task Force

Clergy Task Force meets at noon on the 1st Tuesday of the month at the Family Justice Center (August 1, October 3 and December 5, 2006)

Education Task Force meets 2nd Monday of every month, at 2:30pm, at the Family Justice Center

Elder Abuse Task Force meets 4th Friday of every month, at 9am

Family Violence Helpline
865-521-6336

CCFV

400 Harriet Tubman St
Knoxville, TN 37915
865-215-6854

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Social Work

 The profession of social work is dedicated to seeing and understanding people within their environments. This ecologically sensitive way of assessing the problems people have includes the consideration of people's relationships with their companion animals. Whether it is a dog, an iguana, a bunny, a bird, or a horse, people's attachment to their animals deserves attention in social work assessment and intervention.

Given the link between abuse toward people and abuse toward animals, and given that people will sometimes put the well-being of their animals over their own welfare, caring for the welfare of people's animals is essential in sufficiently caring for people themselves. For instance, evidence suggests there is a web of family violence whereby children, women, elderly family members, and pets are all abused at the hands of a batterer.

Social workers' needs in addressing animal abuse include:

• Social workers need to understand the ways in which the law governs various aspects of animal cruelty. For instance: a) What state penalties exist regarding animal abuse? b) What evidence is required to make a strong case against an animal abuser? c) What evidence is needed to establish animal ownership? d) What legal obligations does the state have to provide counseling for animal abusers?

• Social workers need to be aware of existing resources in the community that can be utilized in sheltering abused and neglected companion animals for the benefit of both the animals and the owners.

• Social workers in a variety of settings (children's services, all entry points into the domestic violence system, hospitals, mental health centers, schools, etc) should include questions about animals in their psychosocial assessments. Appropriate questions are: a) Do you have animals? b) Have your animals ever been harmed? c) Do you worry about the safety of your animals? d) How many animals do you have? e) How many animals have you had over the past 5 years?