About 170 participants attended ODVN’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month press conference in the Capitol Atrium on October 9. ODVN presented its ninth annual Domestic Violence Fatality Report, which counted 114 total intimate partner-related fatalities. The numbers revealed the cascading effect domestic violence can have on families, particularly children. At least 79 minor children in Ohio lost a parent to domestic violence and 51 lost a grandparent – meaning these children often have lost their closest caregivers. Sometimes children witnessed the violence: At least 33 children were present when these deaths occurred. In one case, police report that a 10-year-old placed the 911 call – reporting a murder-suicide in which both parents died. The deaths occurred between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

ODVN presented the Croucher Family Award for Outstanding Leadership to the Honorable Denise Herman McColley and advocate CJ Williams. Retired Judge McColley, a former domestic relations/juvenile court judge in Henry County, has spent the better part of her career making Family Court a better place for domestic violence survivors. Williams, who retired last year from Turning Point in Marion and Delaware counties, received the award for her 12 years of advocacy at the Ohio Reformatory for Women where she worked with more than 3,500 survivors.