This May as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Action Alliance highlights the work of two member agencies offering culturally specific support to Asian and Asian American survivors. While survivors in Asian communities face some of the same struggles as non-Asian survivors, they also have unique considerations related to cultural norms, language access, and immigration status.
Learn more about Boat People SOS and the Korean Community Services Center of Greater Washington below.
1. Tell us a little about your organization.
Boat People SOS, Inc. (BPSOS) is a national community-based organization with 40 years of experience servicing the Vietnamese American community. Founded in 1980, BPSOS’ mission is to “empower, organize and equip Vietnamese refugees and immigrants in their pursuit of liberty and dignity.” Our population has been predominantly Vietnamese refugees and immigrants, most of whom have a long history of trauma, and often are survivors of domestic violence. During the past 40 years, our national network of branch offices has directly assisted over 120,000 Vietnamese residing in Vietnam, on the high seas as boat people, in refugee camps, and after resettlement to the United States. Our long and successful track record of service to this vulnerable population has elevated our trustworthiness and credibility as an organization with cultural competence and subject matter expertise to serve this population. BPSOS is the only Vietnamese American national organization with a physical presence in six locations in the U.S. and one office in Thailand with a total of 65 staff members and a network totaling hundreds of dedicated volunteers.
2. How do you see the needs of Asian survivors differing from other survivors?
Domestic violence has long been prevalent in the Vietnamese community. The high incidence of domestic violence is compounded by significant barriers faced by survivors when accessing mainstream domestic violence services, including limited English competency, cultural tolerance for abusive behavior and general fear of seeking assistance outside the family network. In the Vietnamese culture, despite the fact that they are the survivors, women are often blamed by their own families for the abuse they suffer. Among many traditional families, abuse by their husbands is viewed as an indication of the woman’s bad character, which brings shame to the entire family. This traditional belief often translates to cultural tolerance for violence against women. For many of the survivors we serve, a lack of understanding of U.S. laws is common and exacerbates the barriers detailed above. For example, survivors who are recent immigrants are generally unaware of their rights under the U.S. legal system, such as their right to self-petition for legal permanent residence under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Moreover, they often fear detention and deportation, especially those who derive their immigration status from their abusive spouses, and this fear often deters these women from seeking assistance and legal recourse. Most survivors don’t have any family members or relatives in the US to help and explain to them what they need to do if they’re physically, sexually, or financially abused. Vietnamese survivors really need case management to explain safety, shelters, protection orders, or separation and divorce. Without devoted and fast supports, survivors may die, commit suicide or get traumatized.
3. What, if anything, do you want the broader anti-violence community to know or understand about the work you do?
We would want the broader anti-violence community to know and understand that our ultimate goal is to end the cycle of domestic violence among Vietnamese families and to empower and equip survivors to lead self-sufficient, stable, and independent lives for themselves and for their dependents. Our services are very culturally-specific, trauma-informed, free of charge, and strictly voluntary, while protecting confidentiality of client information. Our Communities Against Domestic Violence (CADV) project, started 22 years ago, focused originally on raising community awareness about domestic violence. As a growing number of survivors requested direct services, we gradually built capacity, through long-term case management, to meet the diverse needs of victims, including legal assistance, transitional housing, job placement, financial education, counseling, and social services. With the support of BPSOS’ leadership, in 2012 the CADV management team decided to expand this program to all 6 BPSOS branches nationwide. To date, the CADV Program has assisted over 1,200 Vietnamese and other Asian American survivors of domestic violence across the nation in accessing needed legal and social service assistance. Additionally, over 100 domestic service and legal assistance providers have received our cultural competency trainings.
4. How has the COVID pandemic impacted the people you serve?
Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has extremely impacted the people we serve. Our partner, Just Neighbors, could not meet with new DV victims to do intake, and therefore, they could not help our clients to apply for two-year or ten-year green cards. Some ten-year green card applications have been pending and delayed for submission to USCIS because of this pandemic. Many victims lost their jobs, their health insurance, and hopes to solve their family issues. They have been so depressed, stressed, and worried about their green cards that will expire soon in 2020. One of our female survivor’s son of 20 years old could not fly to the US from Vietnam in March 2020 to reunite with his mother who left Vietnam seven years ago to the US (to live with her abusive husband). We have tried our best to assist people as much as we can during this difficult time.
5. What statewide policy change(s) would be most beneficial to helping survivors you support?
Survivors always need financial assistance to pay for rent if they need to move out to live separately from their spouses. If the state can allocate some funds to assist survivors with this need, that would be great. We usually just provide any assistance they need (interpretation, translation, referrals, legal, shelter, safety plan, etc.) but we are unable to provide financial assistance which is very important for survivors to quickly move away from the abusers who always curse victims/survivors with threatening words and violent actions.
6. What can people do to support your organization and work?
People can support our organization and work with different ways: (1) Donate or invest in our program; (2) Volunteer to assist our community; (3) Stay informed and spread the word to others. Together, we can advocate successfully for victims and survivors in any fields so that they can rebuild their life with dignity and liberty.
KOREAN COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER OF GREATER WASHINGTON
1. Tell us a little about your organization.
KCSC is a one-stop shop non-profit providing social services for the Asian American community. It brings a multidisciplinary approach to Asian Americans and new immigrants through social service, education, advocacy, and development of resources. The Victim Services program aims to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services in coordination with prevention educators, transitional housing assistants, advocates, and community engagement staff.
2. How do you see the needs of Asian survivors differing from other survivors?
While domestic violence survivors’ basic needs are similar, what’s particular to Asian survivors are the culturally deep-rooted idea of family unity and the responsibility of holding the family or providing the children an intact family. Asian survivors are deeply related to family-centered and patriarchal cultural values. This sometimes makes it hard to decide the options that they need. In addition, they don’t know where and how they can get practical help or useful resources because of barriers, such as instability of their legal status, lack of command of English, and lack of connections. Sometimes survivors feel more isolated and depressed without support systems where they can reach out for help when they don’t feel safe at home.
3. What, if anything, do you want the broader anti-violence community to know or understand about the work you do?
KCSC not only provides case management to clients, but also reaches out to other community members to provide DV seminars regarding Asian culture and how to help immigrants survivors from different cultures. We are willing to get connected with other relevant agencies providing similar services and have cross-training, if possible.
4. How has the COVID pandemic impacted the people you serve?
The pandemic has impacted clients in many different ways. Many clients’ employment stability was negatively impacted, which spiked the needs for social services and financial assistance. In order to prevent sexual violence and dating violence, close cooperation and engagements with the local community are very important. This type of the education session is more efficient in the setting of in-person gatherings. However, due to COVID-19, it is challenging to do outreach.
5. What statewide policy change(s) would be most beneficial to helping survivors you support?
Language assistance in the legal system: Clients need equal access to legal services and remedies. For example, adequate communication in any aspect of accessing the legal system from finding an attorney, understanding options, filling out forms, and simply navigating the courthouse.
Immigration status: A good number of my clients depend on their abusive spouses for their immigration status, thus VAWA Self-petition is a pivotal grounding for those clients. Continue to advocate to expedite the VAWA application process.
Housing: Protecting renters’ and homeowners’ rights, especially during COVID-19 would be beneficial to helping survivors have a continuously secure and safe place (See National Housing Law Project).
6. What can people do to support your organization and work?
(1) Have the curiosity and be open-minded to the domestic violence issues in the community. Raise awareness and have open conversations about domestic violence in Asian communities. (2) Share information about KCSC through your social media and other connections. (3) Volunteer your time with KCSC. (4) Donate to KCSC.
Interested in learning more about gender-based violence in Asian Pacific Islander communities? Find resources and reports from the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence. API-GBV has COVID-19 In-Language Resources and Resources for Survivors and Service Providers during COVID-19.
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