Domestic Violence
Tackling Domestic Violence: Providing support to survivors from Black Minority Ethnic communities
This summary draws on two Home Office reports, offering guidance for practitioners on how to provide support for survivors of domestic violence. It also includes guidance on how to better provide support to Black Minority Ethnic (BME) women.
Title: Tackling Domestic Violence: providing advocacy and support to survivors of domestic violence; and
Tackling Domestic Violence: providing advocacy and support to survivors from Black and other minority ethnic communities
Author: Alpa Parmar and Alice Sampson (University of East London) and Alana Diamond (Home Office)
Series: Development and Practice Reports 34 & 35
Date published: February 2005
Number of pages: 14 and 14
Availability:
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The report draws upon the evaluations of projects aimed to support female victims of domestic violence, and which were funded under the remit of the Crime Reduction Programme (CRP) Violence Against Women Initiative (VAWI).
Where can support work take place?
Centre based support
Research suggests that survivors of domestic violence prefer the main sources of support and advice to be located in one place, e.g. a 'one-stop-shop', police station, voluntary organisation, community centre, or a court.
Non-centre based support
Outreach support workers provide support for women in their homes. It is a way of providing support to those women that are harder to reach, e.g. minority ethnic communities, survivors who live in rural or isolated areas, survivors with physical or mental impairments.
What kind of support model should be adopted?
Women tend to prefer longer-term support from a support worker rather than short-term crisis intervention, whereby the worker would support a woman for a limited period, then refer her to another agency. They liked it better because it:
created stronger relationships of trust between the women and the worker and achieved more positive legal outcomes
provided consistent help and advice, and women did no have to repeat their story several times
reduced the feelings of loneliness and isolation.
The job of support workers
Supporting women to report incidents to the police
Support workers play a key role to increase the number of women that report incidents to the police and pursue a legal case to the end. The most successful projects to increase reporting were those that had close links with the police (e.g. where workers were based within a police station or where police were co-located with workers within a 'one-stop-shop').
Supporting women through courts
Many women are too frightened to pursue a legal case, and among those that do, most withdraw from the Criminal Justice System (CJS) process. Women indicated that they appreciated being accompanied at court and to their solicitors. They also wanted to be kept informed of CJS and legal processes, decisions and outcomes.
Key principles for advocates and support workers
Support workers should encourage women to take legal action but avoid pushing them into it.
Criminal action tends to result in long-term solutions but also involves a lengthy process for the woman.
Support workers should be able to recognise which option is most appropriate for a woman and any children, and whether a woman is ready to take legal action at all.
When women disclose information about their circumstances, child protection can become an issue. If child abuse and neglect by women is present support workers are faced with issues of confidentiality and require many skills, and managerial support, to respond to the situation.
Training
Training should not just take part at the beginning of a job, but should be an ongoing process. Training should include:
Good practice and cultural issues of domestic violence.
Basic legal training: criminal and civil.
Working knowledge of the criminal and civil justice systems.
Learning about the structures and systems of local statutory and voluntary agencies.
Negotiation skills to use with women and partner agencies.
Short counselling courses and courses in providing emotional support.
How to recognise mental health issues.
Child protection issues.
How to complete accurate risk assessments and produce appropriate safety plans.
How to use databases and systems for monitoring performance.
Raising awareness of domestic violence
Raising awareness of domestic violence is more effective when it:
educates all residents and workers that domestic violence is a crime (e.g. by using publicity, and by support workers visiting community groups and agencies).
creates understandings between agencies about the problem of domestic violence
reaches Black and other minority ethnic communities, and vulnerable groups, with the intention of breaking down cultural barriers
pools funds from a range of agencies and institutions because this increases the budget for a campaign and increases commitment to the initiative.
Limitations to support work
A project has to be running for a long time and be embedded in the community before it has a big impact.
Sometimes a woman’s situation is too complex for a support worker to solve, e.g. women who are unresponsive to services offered.
It is also difficult for workers to be effective in situations where the project is not supported by partner agencies.
Workers are often reliant on other agencies to carry out their roles effectively, which is not always achievable.
Providing a service to Black Minority Ethnic women
Support workers should understand the following issues that Black Minority Ethnic (BME) women face and take these into consideration when trying to help them reach their social and economic independence:
Culture
The culture among the Asian community means that it is often more difficult for Asian women to admit to having marital problems. This is because if a marriage fails it is often seen as being the woman's fault and she will be blamed for letting down the family's honour.
Religion
Islamic principles state that when women marry they enter into a contract with their husband. The husband can terminate this contract and only he has the right to divorce his wife. If the husband does not want to comply with this, he can prevent giving a religious divorce to his wife.
Immigration
Sometimes a BME woman may have an uncertain immigration status, which may prevent her from accessing services. She may also be hesitant to take action against her partner for fear of losing her right to remain in the UK. In some cases women have received threats of deportation from their partner or extended family if they report domestic violence and have had their passports taken from them.
Putting these consideration into practice
Most Asian women preferred to have an Asian support worker that could speak their language. However, this practice should not be applied automatically as some Asian women preferred somebody from a different background, as they were afraid the support worker may know or be related to someone who knows them.
Support workers should be trained to assess the different factors surrounding a woman, such as cultural beliefs and the sense of loss a woman may feel if she has left her country of origin.
Support workers should establish the immigration status of a woman. Persons without Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK do not have the right to public funds. This can prevent them from leaving a violent partner.
BME women must be placed in appropriate refuges. For example, if an Asian woman is sent to a local Asian woman's refuge, it is easier for the perpetrator to trace the woman. Each woman should have say in where they go. It is important they feel comfortable, e.g. in places with cultural familiarity.
Awareness raising may require different approaches to reach tight-knit BME communities, e.g. posters in mosques, information in different languages, chat on Asian radio stations.
It is important the possible effects of racism with women are explored and responded to.
The type of information offered to BME women needs to be flexible, as their situation is not always the same. For example, English may not be their first language, or they may have only recently moved to this country.
The projects should have clear policies about how to provide support to asylum seekers and refugees, and understand the law surrounding immigration.
Last update: Tuesday, August 07, 2007