County focuses on teen dating violence

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Here's a disturbing statistic: One out of every five teens who has been in a serious relationship reports being hit, slapped or pushed by his or her partner.

Monday at the Tony Burger Center, a new conference was held to raise awareness about teen violence by launching the Teen Dating Violence Awareness campaign "Jump Up & Stop Teen Dating Violence."

February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. To show their support varsity basketball players from a variety of schools will be wearing purple shoe laces during their games.

"Travis County Sheriff's Office, Texas Advocacy Program and schools all work together and provide different resources," said Heather Bellino, communications and development director of the Texas Advocacy Program.

The Texas Advocacy Program is a nonprofit organizations that provides legal aid to victims of domestic violence.

"A protective order is the best way to keep people safe," Bellino said. "Victim that have protective orders are 80 percent less likely to be revictimized."

Bellino explained how violence in relationships have reached an "epidemic proportion for our teenagers." About 10 percent of teens nationwide have reported physical abuse in the past year from a boyfriend or girlfriend while 1 in 4 adolescents report verbal, physical, emotional or sexual abuse from a partner.

Bellino said one of the biggest signs of abuse is when one of the partners stops communicating. According to her, the best way to address the problem is actively working to keep open communication with the victim and provide services so they can receive help.

The organizations are also calling attention to a national hotline for teen dating violence, which is 1-800-374-HOPE.