A community toolkit and model protocol for coordinated community response for immigrant victims of domestic violence

The Southern Arizona Battered Immigrant Women Project has developed a toolkit providing guidelines for the development of a protocol of coordinated community response to serve immigrant women who are victims of domestic violence and are eligible for assistance under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The toolkit reflects the experiences of project partners, service providers, and immigrant survivors of domestic violence. It was developed within the context of rural Southern Arizona, and intended for adaptation in rural and border communities. When addressing violence against immigrant women, service providers encounter a unique set of challenges arising from the added legal implications of immigration and naturalization. By outlining roles of service providers from diverse sectors (law enforcement, victim/advocacy, legal and health and human services), the toolkit can assist communities in collaborating to build upon strengths and identify and address gaps. A strong relationship between victim services/ advocacy agencies and legal services providers is central to the model. When these two entities collaborate, eligible victims who have made contact with either agency have access to the immigration relief of a VAWA self-petition or U-Visa, as well as the support system needed to address the economic and emotional issues that accompany escaping and surviving domestic violence. Key to effective community response is training about VAWA and immigrant rights for all entities coming in contact with or serving immigrant women. In addition, public awareness efforts serve to increase recognition of the issues among community members and identification and referral of victims into the formal system.