Addressing Barriers to Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Among Immigrant Populations in Fairfax County

The immigrant population in Fairfax is one of the highest in the NOVA region; however, these populations can be underserved and underrepresented in domestic and sexual violence treatment. Literature shows that domestic and sexual violence is prevalent within different immigrant communities, but little is known about the barriers that can prevent potential clients from seeking help. This project involved a scoping review and interviews with community leaders of select immigrant populations: Southeast Asian, Sub-Saharan African, South Asian, Latinx, SWANA, and Eastern European. We find that while there are specific considerations for each population, immigration impacts every part of an immigrant’s life and creates a fear of authorities. Additionally, a lack of knowledge of U.S. institutions as well as traditional gender and family dynamics often leave victims unaware of what is considered abuse and what services or options are available. Additionally, the public perception of sexual and domestic violence services within these populations typically views them as serving “other kinds” of people, and unable to address the specific and nuanced needs of immigrant clients.

Lina: Welcome to our Oscar Celebration of Learning presentation! This was a summer
team impact project. Here are some key terms and statistics to go over before we go into this
presentation I do want to point out a trigger warning. Topics on sexual and
domestic violence will be discussed, our main focus was on intimate partner violence. On the left side you can read a definition of intimate partner violence and on the
right side are some facts pertaining to the U.S

Paridhi: The summer team impact project was a collaboration with Fairfax County DSVS
to better understand ways in which to provide care for underserved populations.

Elizabeth: To tackle this project we conducted an intensive literature review and
interviewed community leaders to find out what’s known about potential barriers when accepting Domestic and Sexual Violence Services among different populations in the literature review. We looked at General barriers for different populations within the United States as well as potential solutions to overcome these barriers.

Lina: let’s go over some key findings from this scoping review.

Nallely Calles: These are some themes that we all found within our respective immigrant communities. The first one being you know societal perceptions barriers and fears,
family and traditional roles and values, preferences in surface usage, and just the general of lack of awareness and knowledges on services.

Lina: As an example, we will delve into how different communities experience
traditional and familial roles. In the SWANA Community a common traditional perception held by women is the idea of maintaining the family unit. Women feel that by exposing their abuse to outside agencies they are bringing shame and dishonor to their families. This can lead to social ostracization as women are outcasted from their society, which is why women prefer to use informal networks. These perceptions of shame and honor are passed down through
intergenerational transfer. When women are at a power imbalance with their abuser because they are financially dependent on them or rely on them for their immigration status. They are left in a no-win situation where if they stay with their abuser they continue their abuse but if they leave they are left with nothing.

Nallely: In the Latinx community we see family as a support system you know Familismo
which is essentially a built-in support system we have. We come from a collectivist culture that
really prioritizes family. Family is a barrier this prioritization of family can cause women to endure unnecessary abuse. Distance from family, (Pause) a lot of women or immigrants leave their families behind, and they no longer have the support system that they’re used to. Uh gender norms, machismo and marianismo and just conflicting cultural values when
they come to the US specifically with the gender norms that they’re used to.

Elizabeth: In my research I focused on two populations Eastern European immigrants
and sub-Saharan African immigrants, however I found that among both groups immigration can complicate the family roles within a household. As typically in traditional roles the wife would take care of the children whereas the husband would be the main breadwinner of the family. After immigrating to the U.S this wasn’t very feasible as a single income was enough to support the family which meant that the wife would have to go and take on more work which would lead to what was called role strain which could cause conflict that could then escalate into domestic violence.

Paridhi: These are some of the themes that were prevalent among the South Asian
population the first one is insecurity of immigration status since most of the victims immigrated to the United States through marriage for social mobility, but this also gave the risk of not having knowledge about the new country they were going to be living. In the second theme was a lack of support system where victims of domestic violence were conditioned to not speak out about their abuse and many of the victims were also financially dependent on their abusers since they were not allowed to hold jobs.

Paridhi: And lastly moving on to the implications of the project these are the future efforts and
implications it includes understanding societal context to meet the unique needs of each population through a culturally centered approach the main takeaway is that service providers and community members must collaborate together in order to engage effectively to and to make progressive changes.

Paridhi: Thank you for watching our presentation!