Double risk: immigrant mothers, domestic violence and public child welfare services in New York City.

This paper examines the experiences of Mexican immigrant mothers living in New York City who become involved with public child welfare services because of domestic violence and makes recommendations for evaluation of program services to immigrant mothers. A case study and the results of a focus group interview will be presented to illustrate the often conflicting cultural, social and political issues confronted by immigrant mothers as they negotiate the organization of services designed to address specific forms of domestic violence, i.e., the protection of children and the protection of women. Emergent themes point to the double risk faced by immigrant women-first at the hands of their partners and then by service providers who do not understand the cultural issues that surround domestic violence nor the implications that immigration status has for victims of abuse. After intervention, participants in this research study describe feeling both like 'bad mothers' who fail to protect their children and 'bad women' who turn family members over for deportation. Evaluation of services to immigrant mothers requires consideration not only of cultural and social issues that affect program outcomes but must also consider the larger implications that immigration status has on utilization of services by immigrant women. Immigrant women often face multiple risks when seeking help for family problems.

Earner I 《-》

Immigrant families and public child welfare: barriers to services and approaches for change.

Earner I 《-》

Family pediatrics: report of the Task Force on the Family.

Schor EL ，American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on the Family 《-》

Domestic violence and immigration status among Latina mothers in the child welfare system: findings from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being II (NSCAW II).

Many children involved with the child welfare system witness parental domestic violence. The association between children's domestic violence exposure and child welfare involvement may be influenced by certain socio-cultural factors; however, minimal research has examined this relationship. The current study compares domestic violence experiences and case outcomes among Latinas who are legal immigrants (n=39), unauthorized immigrants (n=77), naturalized citizens (n=30), and US-born citizen mothers (n=383) reported for child maltreatment. This analysis used data from the second round of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being. Mothers were asked about whether they experienced domestic violence during the past year. In addition, data were collected to assess if (a) domestic violence was the primary abuse type reported and, if so, (b) the maltreatment allegation was substantiated. Results show that naturalized citizens, legal residents, and unauthorized immigrants did not differ from US-born citizens in self-reports of domestic violence; approximately 33% of mothers reported experiences of domestic violence within the past year. Yet, unauthorized immigrants were 3.76 times more likely than US-born citizens to have cases with allegations of domestic violence as the primary abuse type. Despite higher rates of alleged domestic violence, unauthorized citizens were not more likely than US-born citizens to have these cases substantiated for domestic violence (F(2.26, 153.99)=0.709, p=.510). Findings highlight that domestic violence is not accurately accounted for in families with unauthorized immigrant mothers. We recommend child welfare workers are trained to properly assess and fulfill the needs of immigrant families, particularly as it relates to domestic violence.

Ogbonnaya IN ，Finno-Velasquez M ，Kohl PL 《-》

Life with a new baby: how do immigrant and Australian-born women's experiences compare?

Bandyopadhyay M ，Small R ，Watson LF ，Brown S ... -  《-》