Community Analysis:African American Mothers who

become homeless due to Domestic Violence

By Ivelisse Rivera De JesusCommunity Psychology

Introduction

• This presentation is based on real situations• Defines Home, Homelessness and domestic

violence • Factors that contribute to homelessness• DV Cycle• Myths about domestic violence• Real facts about domestic violence among

AAW

Continuation

• Main reasons not to leave an abusive relationship

• Existent services available to this community

• Includes a list of all the special needs of this particular community

• Large demand for DV services and budget cuts

What is homelessness?

What is a home?

• A space that belongs to an individual (own space)

• A space that brings : security, is safe, brings refuge from rain and cold, has a place to store and prepare food, a place to sleep and have appropriate sanitary facilities

Definition Homeless• Is defined as an inadequate experience of

connectedness with family and or community (from www.homeless.org)

• Anyone who lives in places not meant for human habitation (parks, cars, sidewalks, abandoned buildings or streets)

• Anyone who receives a emergency shelter service• Anyone who has been discharged from: jail, mental

health institution, a substance abuse treatment facility or anyone fleeing a domestic violence situation and has no subsequent residence identified

Federal definition

• Lack of fixed and adequate nighttime housing • Place publicly or privately operated shelter

designed to provide temporary living accommodations

• Public or private facility not designed for regular sleeping accommodations ( provided by The Department of Housing and Urban Development)

Factors contributing homelessness

• Domestic Violence• Low wages• Mental illness• Poverty• Tragedy• PTSD• Job loss• Lack of affordable housing

Continuation

• Physical disabilities• Natural disaster• Lack of child support• Severe depression• Divorce• Decline on public assistance• Drugs and alcohol among others

What is Domestic Violence?

Definition• Pattern of behaviors used by an abuser to control

the behavior and life of the victim• Most common form of violence• It occurs in any family regardless of their race,

religion, social status and education• It can be either physical or sexual assault, mental/

emotional and or verbal abuse• Abuser are extremely jealous and go to extremes to

maintain control (retrieved from www.thehavenshelter.org)

Domestic Violence is a cycle?

Domestic Violence Cycle

Myths about not leaving an abusive relationship

Low self-esteem • There is little support for the theory that

low self-esteem cause’s victims to become involved in abusive relationships

• Some victims may experience a decrease in self-esteem as a result of being abused, since perpetrators frequently degrade, humiliate, and criticize victims  

Myths about not leaving an abusive relationship

DV victims never leave an abusive relationship or they get involved in another abusive relationship

• Victims will leave the relationship multiple times.• It may take several attempts to permanently separate

because abusers use violence, financial control, or threats about the children, to compel victims to return.

• Lack of support from friends, family members, or professionals, such as court personnel, law enforcement officers, counselors, or clergy members, may cause victims to return.

• Since the risk of further violence often increases after victims separate from their abusers, it can be even harder for victims to leave if they cannot obtain effective legal relief.

Myths about not leaving an abusive relationship

Batterers abuse their partners or spouses because of alcohol or drug abuse

• It Commonly used as an excuse • It does not cause DV• Might increase the frequency and severity of

violence episodes• Requiring batterers to attend only substance

abuse treatment programs will not effectively end the violence (might lead to other programs)

Real facts about Domestic Violence among African American Women

• Suffer from deadly violence from family members at rates much higher than any other racial group in United States

• Bad housing, poor education, unemployment, underemployment, inadequate vocational skills

• The density of liquor stores in the inner cities, influence and use of alcohol and family breakdowns contribute to DV

Main reasons not to leave an abusive relationship

• African American women have fewer options in the search of marital partners

• Tend to have lower incomes• This women are reluctant to call the police,

because of the racial injustice within the criminal justice system (retrieved from http://www.blackwomenshealth.com/domestic_violence.htm)

Continuation

• There might be fewer support centers such as women's center available as a place of refuge for African American women

Services available for domestic violence victims

• 24 Hour Crisis Hotline• Emergency Shelter• Individual Counseling• Support Groups• Legal Advocacy• Information and Referrals• Community Education• Children's Programs

Assistance to victims

• Victim/witness program- helps to answer questions about court procedures (arrangements to attend to court and meet the prosecutor)

• Domestic violence program-provides support, information and/ or shelter assistance for you and your child

• Legal aid society- offers legal assistance and information on custodies, divorce and child support

Continuation

• Crime Victim Assistance INFO-LINE- Provide information and referral services to victims, Inform victims of their rights under Virginia’s Crime Victim and Witness Rights Act and provide crisis intervention as needed

• Family Violence and Sexual Assault Hotline – helps you to get in touch with your local victim/witness program, domestic violence program and/or court service unit

Retrieved from: http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/victims/documents/domviobr.pdf

Primary needs of this community

• Legal assistance (not offered by hotlines, only referrals)

• Emergency shelter Services and transitional housing

• Financial resources ( example: food stamps) Most of the time they do refunds to victims, not immediate services

• Battering intervention programs• Counseling programs

Provided by an anonymous interview on a crisis hotline

HELP

Large demand for domestic violence services

• Over 53,000 adults and children receive DV assistance in a single day in USA

• More than 7,700 request were unmet due to the lack of funding and staff of DV agencies

(Info provided by National Census for Domestic Violence Services NCDVS)

• 61% of unmet request were for emergency shelter and transitional housing

Continuation

• Domestic violence programs are struggling to meet huge demands for shelters and advocacy services (due to cuts in 2008 federal budget)

• Due to cuts victims will have fewer resources available

• When programs don’t have an adequate funding to operate, victims have no choice but to return to their abusers

Continuation

Fiscal Year 2008 federal budget• Slashes $35 million from VOCA (Victims of

crime act) Who serves over 3 million victims a year

• Cuts $2.2 million from the Legal Assistance and applies a 1.74% rescission to labor and human services funding, creating a devastating $2.2 million cut to Family Violence Prevention and Service Act

Continuation• The NCDVS collected a national count of adults and

children who received life saving services• During the 24hr survey, 53,000 adults and children

received DV services including:

1. 16,000 for emergency shelter

2. Over 8,600 who lived in transitional housing

3. 28,000 who received non-residential services such as counseling, legal advocacy and children support groups

4. More than 20,000 calls were answered (14 calls per minute)

Other important facts found

• Shelters are FULL of people (some are closed momentary)

• The is no immediate financial support• Lack of legal representation• Over a 8 week waiting list for counseling• Lack of staff to work on hotlines• Huge amount of federal cuts for HELP!

Conclusion

• Domestic violence is a continuous cycle in growth• Most of the myths about DV are misinterpreted by

society• Services are available but need more support

from government• The primary need of the community is legal

assistance and shelter• If non of the above are provided victims become

homeless

Bibliography

• www.ndvh.org• www.samaritanhouseva.org• http://www.musc.edu/vaprevention/

research/attitudesdv.shtml• www.thehavenshelter.org/causes.html• www.homelessresorcenetwork.org/causes.html• www.rcdv.com