Here we go again. Something else the bankrupt Metro needs to pay for.
Immigrants need individualized services in domestic violence cases, experts say

By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com

Laura Carmona said that after she came to the United States from Mexico about 14 years ago, she would call police or other emergency responders to seek protection from an abusive partner.

But she didn't speak English and couldn't reach anyone who understood what she was saying.

When she finally reached a Spanish speaker at the Center for Women and Families, she said, she was able to start the long process of moving away from her abuser, learning English and starting a new job and creating a safe environment for her children.

The practical step of providing someone who spoke her language changed her life, she said. "It is why I could go out" from the abusive relationship, she said in an interview during a daylong conference that drew about 100 people Friday to the Americana Community Center in Louisville’s Southside neighborhood.

The conference, "The Intersection of Culture and Trauma," focused at improving outreaches to victims of domestic and sexual violence among immigrants and refugees.

Carmona said her own experience shows "why we need the services," such as counseling and shelter for victims, she said.

While providing people who speak immigrants' languages is critical, it's hardly the only need, speakers said.

High on the list is dismissing such notions as that domestic violence is just a normal part of foreign cultures — or that everybody in a culture thinks the same way.

"In every country and every group, there is violence," said keynote speaker Sujata Warrier of the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence.

"No community is immune. But that doesn’t mean everybody is buying into it. Each person who comes to you is an individual."

Gretchen Hunt, an organizer of the conference, said she was pleased it drew not only counselors and advocates but also leaders of various ethnic communities.

"It's a mix of both, those providing services and people who are impacted," said Hunt, training coordinator for the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs.

"The goal is to create a safer community for all, and make sure we have language access and culturally competent services when immigrants and refugees come seeking help," she said. The conference was sponsored by the Coalition on Intimate Violence in International Communities.

It's an issue that has grown with populations that largely include new immigrant and refugees and their American-born children.

The Hispanic population more than doubled in both Kentucky and Jefferson County in the past decade, while the Asian-American population grew by more than 60 percent in both locations, according to U.S. Census figures. Jefferson County Public Schools had 4,774 students with limited English proficiency as of November 2010, with languages ranging from Spanish to Somali to Nepali to Burmese.

Thousands of refugees have arrived in Kentucky from countries torn by war and persecution.

Often, communities that have suffered persecution are reluctant to acknowledge problems of domestic violence in their midst because it might give them a bad image, said speaker Susan Heffner Rhema, a social worker specializing in trauma therapy.

But she said research shows such violence "is no more prevalent in any of the immigrant or refugee communities than it is in any American community."

Warrier said Americans seeking to help foreign-born victims need to understand not only clients' cultural backgrounds but also their own cultures’ shortcomings.

"When you create common ground, you move much further ahead than when you impose," she said.

In various workshops, participants reviewed such basics as victims' legal rights and the need for advocates to visit immigrant communities in their houses of worship and cultural events to make them aware of their services.

"Go to the festivals — eat, dance," said Jannine Sayago-Gonzalez, program director of La Casita Center, an outreach to Hispanic families.

One might wonder "how do you get referrals from festivals, but you do," she said. "You meet people and you invest in the community and you build trust."

"Before you do the outreach, communicate with the leaders, so if you go (to a home) they are not surprised," added Hassan Muya, a case worker with Catholic Charities and an organizer with the Somali Bantu Community in Kentucky.

Reporter Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469.

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