Working Group on Violence Against Asian Women and Children - Initial Recommendations from Key Informants

1. Culturally Responsive/Ethnic-specific needs and services
   • Recognize different ethnic Asian language and culture, i.e., Asians are not all the same
   • Build knowledge and skills at both Asian specific agencies and at mainstream agencies and fields (e.g., therapists, law enforcement, faith institutions, schools)
   • Programming that reinforces and supports traditional styles of engagement (e.g., story based, indirect approach)
   • Know about and distribute ethnic specific resource materials
   • For all organizations, identify  a plan of action
     
     
2. Changing cultural norms/practices
   • Must engage community leaders, and ensure  community-wide engagement
   • Ex. equip cultural leaders, elders, and general community members to respond to disclosure of violence and create community empowered solutions; know when to bring in police
   • Shift cultural practices that promote patriarchy, forced gender roles, belief that service orgs are there to break up families and that anti-violence efforts are inherently anti-man.
   • Promote opportunities for community wide dialogue that builds honest listening between “feminists/Americanized women”and those who hold more traditional beliefs
     
     
3. Support for families and men
   • Build services/systems that support men in dealing with their issues (control, gender roles, anger, drinking. etc.)
   • Build services/systems that support the entire family or provide assistance for families to stay together – (in response to the fear that the anti-violence work is interpreted as anti-family, pro-divorce, or just locking up the husbands)
   • Marriage building efforts and combating polygamy/infidelity such as marriage counseling
     
     
4. Prioritize unique efforts for new immigrants
   • Screening/education building efforts at key touchpoints such as immigration, new refugee health checks, etc.
   • Need to know what her rights are, resources, options

Programs:

5. Additional funding and resources for agencies already doing this work
   • And funding that is less restricted or that dictates the strategy, e.g., extended shelter stays, housing
   • Create training modules and resource/know your rights pamphlets in multiple languages
6. Network convening’s to share evolving best practices, new trends/issues, coordinate services
7. Focus on collecting better data, reporting and screening
   • Police:  ask the specific ethnicity of domestic violence participants and connect to Language Line and ethnic-specific resources
   • Immigration needs to do a better job of screening for abusive international marriages
8. Additional services for women: e.g., housing ,employment services, legal and immigration services
9. Additional services/emphasis on mental health, substance abuse, etc.
10. Additional services for youth: regarding youth runaways, at risk for sexual exploitation