Calls to domestic violence help lines are increasing as financial pressures brought on by the recession take a toll on Hawai'i families.

The Domestic Violence Action Center reports fielding a third more calls seeking help and information than last year, and Family Courts have seen an increase in requests for temporary restraining orders.

O'ahu Family Court Judge Michael Broderick said he recently handled 18 TRO cases in one morning — the most in a single court session during his six years as a Family Court judge.

"I am absolutely convinced our economy is contributing to domestic violence. What I see every day in court tells me that," he said.

"One of the themes I'm hearing from people accused of domestic abuse is that they either lost their job, or they lost their home because they lost their job, or they can't pay the rent, and as a result they lost their temper."

Broderick stressed that offering up financial problems as an excuse for domestic violence won't buy leniency in his courtroom, but it does provide insight into the stresses affecting households.

"When someone tells me, 'I snapped because I lost my job,' my decision is the same regardless of the explanation, but I'm hearing that as an explanation much more in the last three to six months," he said.

Officials at domestic violence agencies in Hawai'i said they don't have hard evidence that a poor economy is sparking more abuse within families, but they added that because financial issues typically contribute to arguments and violence in the home, it's likely.

"All the shelters statewide are talking about it. A lot more people are calling for information on restraining orders and calling about help for friends or neighbors. We're definitely seeing an increase in calls," said Stacey Moniz, executive director of Women Helping Women on Maui, which runs an emergency shelter and support programs for battered women and their children.

CALLS FOR 'SAFETY PLANS'

The Maui agency hasn't seen a noticeable increase in women seeking emergency shelter, but Moniz said Women Helping Women has been getting more calls from people seeking to establish "safety plans" in case tensions at home escalate.

She said the new wave of domestic violence may be affecting a group not normally seen by the agency.

"For the people who struggle month to month, it's the same struggle. But the next layer of people, average working people who don't have a lot of savings and don't have a safety net — we're hearing more from them. The economy is being mentioned more often and people are feeling more desperate," Moniz said.

Angie Doi, director of program service at Child & Family Service, said she can't say for sure that economic woes are causing more domestic abuse, but it's plain from the volume of calls to the agency's child welfare programs that families are struggling with a host of issues.

"Overall what we are seeing is that families are just way more stressed. There are a lot of concerns about the future," she said.

Child & Family Service operates domestic abuse shelters in Honolulu and Hilo and provides legal referrals, counseling, financial planning and other support services to victims.

Doi said rather than taking the "huge step" of going to a domestic violence shelter, people in abusive situations appear to be "holding it together" at home.

"They're calling and asking about what's out there. People are on edge and they're checking things out because the future looks like gloom and doom," Doi said. "They are not ready to make that leap and go to the shelter because of concerns about long-term housing, employment and the economy."

Nanci Kreidman, chief executive officer of the Domestic Violence Action Center, said calls to the advocacy agency have increased at least 30 percent in recent months.

Kreidman said domestic violence is often "a crime of access," and job layoffs and reduced work hours force family members to spend long periods together at home, where existing tensions over money can be ratcheted up, increasing the likelihood of violence.

Deteriorating family finances also make it harder for victims to leave abusive situations, Kreidman said.

"Economics is a reason victims give for going back or staying with an abuser, and that phenomenon is exacerbated," she said. "Setting up a second household and having enough money to move is just not an option."

Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said information on the number of domestic abuse cases reported to police is not available because the incidents are classified under different crime categories, such as assault, harassment and abuse of a household member.

RESTRAINING ORDERS UP

In Family Courts statewide, 2,370 TROs were filed between November and April, a 7 percent increase over the same period in 2007 and 2008, according to the state Judiciary, which does not track the reasons for the requests.

A recent survey by the National Domestic Violence Hotline also suggests a link between financial stress and domestic violence. The organization said that during a six-week period, 54 percent of hot line callers reported a change in their household's finances in the past year.

A separate survey in April by the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation found that 75 percent of domestic violence shelters in the U.S. reported an increase in women seeking help since September, and 73 percent of these shelters attribute this rise to financial issues. The study surveyed 600 domestic violence shelters across the country.

Although reluctant to voice their concerns, Hawai'i officials said they worry about the potential for family killings like those witnessed on the Mainland in recent months that were triggered by financial troubles.

"So far we have been fortunate to avoid any catastrophic mass family killing. I don't really think it's a result of anything we're doing — we just haven't had to face that yet," Kreidman said. "That scares me to death."

Many domestic violence agencies in Hawai'i rely largely on state funding, and advocates worry the economic recession also will cause substantial cuts in public and private support for services at a time when they are most needed.

"We're nervous about how the economy is going to impact what we're able to do, especially if those people who normally don't seek help at shelters start showing up," Doi said. "We've all been kind of bracing ourselves for what's going to happen if we see funding cuts."

Kreidman said cuts to domestic violence services will "put people in danger."

"That's going to put us in a very challenging situation as a community," she said, noting that domestic violence often spills out from the home and into neighborhoods and workplaces.