Call for a School-Based Preventative Approach to Domestic Violence Among Latinos in Washington State
By Libby Culclasure
Executive Summary
CALL FOR A SCHOOL-BASED PREVENTATIVE APPROACH TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AMONG LATINOS IN WASHINGTON STATE
Libby Culclasure, Whitman College
Executive Summary, November 27, 2006
“When
you work with youth, you can help them to see that there is a vicious
cycle… and that they have the power to break it.” (Latina domestic
violence survivor, Walla Walla)
Topic: Unique
socio-economic, political, and cultural circumstances affecting Latinos
perpetuate a high rate of domestic violence that increases with
subsequent generations born in the United States. These factors also
restrict Latinos’ access to resources, which impedes incident
reporting. Domestic violence programs have traditionally focused on
after-the-fact approaches, such as intervention, batterers’ treatment,
and victim support services. For these reasons, I chose to focus on
prevention efforts targeted at Latino youth that will ideally transform
the behaviors and beliefs that are causes of dating and spousal abuse,
while educating and engaging the Latino community on the topic of
domestic violence.
Methods: Sources consulted in the
process of this investigation include scholarly literature pertaining
to domestic violence overall and specifically with regard to Latinos;
state and national statistical databases; interviews with domestic
violence program coordinators, police officers, a minister, and several
survivors; and case studies of prevention programs in the form of
general violence prevention efforts for Latino adolescents, or domestic
violence prevention for all youth.
Findings: Successful programs tend to involve the following:
• A collaborative effort joining schools, communities, and families.
• A combination of presentations, discussions, and creative projects.
• Support groups for teen victims and intervention for teen batterers.
•
Educating youth about their legal rights and responsibilities, of the
avenues available to them for seeking help, and on how to employ
reasoning, communication, and anger-management skills.
• Specifically encouraging Latinos to embrace their cultural heritage in the process of addressing domestic violence.
Recommendations:
o The core curriculum should be integrated periodically over the course of three years into middle school health classes.
o
The program will include training for peer-educators, mentors, school
nurses and counselors, teachers, and other school administrators.
o
This initiative can draw funding from two recent Washington State
bills: Providing for Family and Consumer Science Education and The
Domestic Violence Prevention Account.
Community Partners: Mario Paredes and Elida Espinoza, Consejo
