Catholic Health World

Casa de Misericordia helps domestic violence victims to rebuild lives

Program assists with housing, money, legal aid, self esteem

By JULIE MINDA

LAREDO, Texas — When a woman uproots her life to flee a violent relationship, she can face some daunting challenges, particularly if she is a low-income mother. She must figure out how to ensure her own safety and that of her children, where to live, how to get financial and legal help and how to recover emotionally.

Casa de Misericordia, a domestic violence shelter run by Mercy Ministries of Laredo, helps victims to take on these challenges and to begin to rebuild their lives. Iliana Arambula, a child advocate at the shelter, explained, "While they're in the shelter, we try to make available all of the tools and resources they need so that they can look at all the options that they have: what they can do and what sort of help they can get from the community besides the help that we give them."

Mercy Ministries of Laredo established Casa in 1998 when a task force that it convened determined that Laredo had insufficient services available for women escaping violent partners. Mercy worked with a team of domestic violence agencies and others to secure grants and donations to start up the shelter. Over time, its service list has evolved to include emergency shelter for abused women and their children, legal advocacy, counseling, social work and assistance in securing financial aid. Casa has a mini-campus that offers education and training for its clients and the broader community.

Vulnerable populations at heightened risk
Most domestic violence victims who seek help from Casa are low-income women with children. Most are of Hispanic heritage — Laredo is a border town with a large Hispanic population.

There are some aspects of the Hispanic culture — principally the notion that a man's authority should not be questioned in his family —that can give rise to domestic violence, noted Laura Salinas, administrator of the education center affiliated with Casa. "The cultural role here affects a lot, and one of the roles of mom in the family is to attend to everybody, and it's something that daughters and sons are learning and husbands are expecting."

Such attitudes can put women on unequal footing in their relationships with men and can set the stage for abuse if problematic dynamics are at play in the relationship.

Domestic violence is a problem that can affect a person of any heritage, said Maria Arambula, the shelter administrator and grant manager. (Maria Arambula is Iliana Arambula's mother.) She said undocumented women with a partner who is a legal resident of the U.S. are at heightened risk of being physically abused. Their partners can maintain power by refusing to petition for the woman's status to be legalized, so she fears deportation for reporting an assault. It is common, the shelter administrator said, for women from Central America to journey north and run out of money in Laredo. If they become attached to a man in Laredo, they may end up living there at his mercy for years.

For such women who are undocumented and without resources, the risk of abuse can be high, said Sr. Rosemary Welsh, RSM, executive director of Casa. "If the woman is undocumented, her partner may threaten to have her deported if she reports the abuse. He may say he'll report her undocumented family members."

Sr. Welsh said that in many immigrants' home countries, it is illegal for women to leave their families, even in cases of abuse. The women oftentimes do not realize that the laws are different in the U.S. In fact, U.S. law protects domestic violence victims, including those who are undocumented immigrants. In most cases, U.S. authorities can protect abuse victims from deportation, Sr. Welsh said.

A safe haven
While poor Hispanic immigrants may be particularly vulnerable to abuse, Iliana Arambula said, domestic violence happens across all cultures and across all incomes. The common denominator for all the victims is that their partner wants to have power and control over them, she said.

That is why Casa's first priority is to ensure the victims have a way to protect themselves from their abuser, explained Casa child advocate Sr. Madeline Rockwell, RSM. "We help them make a safety plan." For instance, Casa staff may help a woman think through an escape route in case she finds herself alone in her home with her abuser and feels threatened.

Casa's emergency shelter is a large house in a secret, secure location — police escort new arrivals to the house to ensure their protection. Within 24 hours of a woman's arrival, Casa counselors meet with her to assess her situation and help her to determine her next steps.

Casa's staff of advocates helps women and their children to access community resources, including financial, legal and housing aid. Casa has an extensive network of partners who can help the women. "We try to work with them to get them on their feet and empower them and make them feel like there is hope and they don't have to go back to the perpetrator," said Lydia Villagran, a Casa counselor.

Women can stay at the house as long as they need to — it can be days or months. New families circulate into and out of the house on a constant basis, yet the house maintains a family feel. Each of several large bedrooms contains several adult beds and several bunk beds — several families can live in each room. Families cook and eat their meals together community-style.

While at the house, women come up with a plan to stabilize their immediate situation. Casa's help doesn't end after a woman finds a safe place to live in the community. The organization offers group therapy for the women and their children, field trips for the children, advocacy and a legal advocate, for instance. The shelter helped about 280 battered women and their children between October 2008 and September 2009.

Breaking the cycle
An overarching goal is to use counseling, education and skill building to break the cycle of violence, explained Casa counselor Marisela Cañamar. Many victims saw their fathers abuse their mothers and their grandfathers abuse their grandmothers, she said. While women with this family history may endure abuse initially, many women make the choice to flee the situation when they see the cycle begin anew in their own homes, for instance, when a man hits a child. "We know that every woman has (her) limit; (she) can only take so much," Cañamar said.

Casa's focus on education is essential to helping women build skills and repair self esteem. At a campus near the shelter, women can study English as a second language and can take computer, sewing, aerobics and pre-general equivalency diploma classes. The curriculum is developed with the help of former and current clients who know what skills would be most helpful in starting up a new life. Women from the broader community also can take the classes.

Claudia Martinez is a Laredo resident and mother of two who has benefited from Casa's services. Originally from nearby Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Martinez endured the physical and emotional abuse of the father of her children for years. Her abuser threatened to report her undocumented status to immigration authorities. The two separated, but during a March 2006 visit with the children, the man beat Martinez and her son.

"That was the day I realized I needed help," Martinez said. She called the police, they came and then they referred her to Casa. The organization helped her to file her immigration papers and to get a protective order. It helped her to get crime victim compensation and other financial aid. Down the line she began taking English as a second language classes and general equivalency diploma classes. She plans to get a community college degree.

"With all the threats that he was using against me, I probably would've put my arms up and gone back to him, and my life would have taken a different course" were it not for Casa, Martinez said.

She tries to help other abuse victims. "I have opportunities to be a voice for the ladies, and I present and speak about domestic violence."

Counselor Cañamar said these types of results are what Casa is all about. "You see their transition — how they feel more empowered — both the mom and the kids, and we're part of a very personal part of their life. It's a privilege."

Copyright © 2010 by the Catholic Health Association of the United States
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