LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The coronavirus can complicate domestic violence, further exacerbating the effects and impacting the way victims can receive help. Social workers say that's especially true when victims need to isolate and be "healthy at home" with their abusers. Victims, including children, are encouraged to find ways to reach out for help. 

During October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, people are pointing out help services and shedding light on who is hurt by abuse in the home to include kids.

GreenHouse17, an agency that helps victims, says calls for help slowed at the start of the pandemic, bringing an eerie silence. Then, Executive Director Darlene Thomas told the Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA) during a virtual panel that the calls picked up as things started to reopen. Thomas said victims explained the isolation while staying home further empowered their abusers. 

Nationally, the National Domestic Violence Hotline says there was a 9% increase in calls for help at the beginning of the pandemic in March. 

In Louisville, the Center for Women and Families is offering advice for the victims trying to keep children safe during domestic abuse: establish a "safe word" which can act as a code for the child to run, hide or find help. 

"Most of the individuals are at home with the perpetrator or with the abuser. So that's, it's very, very scary. And obviously, it's not safe," said Teshanna Brown. 

Brown is the Center's Director of Nonresidential Services.

"As parents, we may think that the kids don't know what's going on or they don't see. And that couldn't be farther from the truth. They actually do know what's going on. They do see," said Brown. 

The Center says kids can have physical and mental health problems and negative social outcomes from witnessing domestic abuse at home or even by being exposed to it in their neighborhood. Children can also be targets of manipulation. 

"They're stuck in a really hard place because they may love and want to be around that parent that's causing harm, so that's confusing," the Center's Director of Emergency Shelter, Arlene Grullon, told the KYA panel. 

There are multiple 24/7 hotlines open for help. The Center's is 1-844-237-2331. GreenHouse17's is 1-800-544-2022. The National Hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE.