CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It’s estimated that one in 15 children witness some form of domestic violence growing up.
Javian Smith is in that group.
Behind his big eyes and brilliant smile is a 5-year-old boy who witnessed something three years ago that no one of any age should have to see.
His father, Jacquece Forrest, broke into Javian’s home and shot and killed the boy's mother, Jennifer Smith, and her friend. Javian saw it happen.
Before the murders, Smith’s parents knew something was wrong in her relationship with Forrest.
<strong>"I noticed bruises on her," said Debbie Smith, her mother. "I said, 'Where did you get that? What happened to this?'"</strong>
“I would always ask Jen, ‘Jen, how are you doing? Is that boy beating on you?’” her father, John Wayne Smith, said. “Jen said ‘No, Daddy.’”
The Smiths said their daughter assured them that she could handle things.
“I told her, 'You better get rid of him, or somebody's going to get lost in this picture,'” Debbie Smith said.
Jennifer Smith’s parents said that when they found her body and her friend’s inside the home on Malibu Drive, they also found lots of boxes, because she was in the middle of packing. She was planning to move out days after she was killed.
- CLICK PLAY: Debbie Smith talks about her daughter Jennifer
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They also say little Javian, who was 2 at the time, fell asleep next to his mother until police arrived.
“He re-enacted it for weeks and months, and goes on to talk about things,” Debbie Smith said of her grandson.
The Smiths now take care of Javian, who needs weekly trauma therapy sessions. They said he's had problems sleeping and nightmares of seeing monsters.
“Even now, if you get on him, or act like you're going to discipline him by spanking him, he has to go potty,” his grandfather said. “Every time someone gets on to him. That comes from that trauma stuff.”
Channel 9's Stephanie Maxwell talked to Mecklenburg County Licensed Clinical Social Worker Sarah Greene, who said cases like this are not unusual.
“We have had more than one case where children have been left alone with a dead parent for a period of time. It is one of the most horrible things you can imagine,” she said.
Greene is a social worker with Mecklenburg County Child Development-Community Policing. She and her team respond immediately to calls involving child witnesses to violence. Out of the 3,000 families with whom her team worked for trauma in 2014, 47 percent were domestic violence cases.
Greene said that what Javian witnessed are ACEs, or adverse childhood experiences.
ACEs include physical or emotional abuse, physical neglect and mothers treated violently.
“The more of those ACEs, the more adverse childhood experiences that someone has, the behaviors that result are more problematic and their health outcomes decrease,” Greene said.
Greene said the possible health risks for someone like Javian are depression, heart disease, cancer and stroke. There's also a risk of violent behavior later in life, but his grandparents are addressing that now.
“(We) tell him and teach him, be nice to the little kids, especially little girls. Do not hit little girls. Always be a gentleman to little girls,” his grandfather said.
“He's in therapy so that he can continue to grow and flourish and be able to learn to handle these feelings that he'll be feeling,” Debbie Smith said.
- CLICK PLAY: Debbie Smith talks about her grandson, Javian
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Greene commends the family for taking steps so Javian can heal.
“Certainly family is the most important thing that can help them be resilient to bounce back," she said.
Javian is already doing just that, making strides in just his first few weeks of kindergarten, with his family's support. But he still talks about that tragic day, and he often talks about his mother.
“Every now and then he'll say, 'Where is Mom? I want to see Jennifer,’” John Smith said. “I just let him talk. I just tell him, ‘Jay, Jennifer has gone to be with the Lord. And we just have to live so one day we can see her again.
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