Sharing Our Stories of Survival: Native Women Surviving Violence (19 page)

The rates of violence among Native women have also had a significant impact on the rates of child abuse and neglect of Native children. In the United States from 1992 to 1995, Natives and Asians were the only racial or ethnic groups to experience increases in the rate of abuse or neglect of children under age fifteen, as measured by incidents recorded by Child Protective Services agencies.
⁸
The increase in reported incidents involving Native children was more than three times as large as that for Asian children. The per capita rate for Native children was seven times that of Asian children. These Native children that are victims of child abuse will most likely continue to have problems in adulthood, because the trauma continues to be passed down to subsequent generations, becoming a part of the multigenerational trauma.
⁹

Risk and Vulnerability Factors Associated with Violence Against Native Women

There are multiple factors that are associated with violence toward Native women; some of these factors are unique to Native women in urban communities. Foremost is the effect of the Multigenerational Trauma Cycle.
¹⁰
This cycle is the effect of
colonization
on Natives. Colonization resulted in the systematic destruction of the culture and lifeways of indigenous people around the world. Historically, the indigenous individual, family, and community were intact and spiritually connected to their surroundings. With the arrival of the Europeans, Natives were faced with the destruction of traditional cultural values, practices, and beliefs. Other effects of colonization were epidemic disease, massacres, slavery,
relocation
to reservations, destructive federal policies, and broken treaties.

Residential schools were set up ostensibly to educate Native children, but in reality they kept them from practicing their traditions, language, and culture. While in the residential schools, Native children did not learn traditional parenting skills; often what they did learn was harsh punishment and abuse. Although there are differences between tribes, traditional parenting skills usually include the belief that harsh discipline should be avoided, that noninterference is the best way to correct behavior, and that children should learn through observation.
¹¹
Residential schools for some Native children affected their ability to parent later in life.
Assimilation
was not limited to residential schools but was evident in the public school system as well. The public school system and mission schools were also set up as a way to assimilate Native children. Native children often faced prejudice and racism from administration, teachers, and non-Indian students.

Relocation to urban areas was another factor adding to the problems Natives faced. After World War II, the federal government adopted a program of relocation as another tool to assimilate Natives. Because of this relocation policy a steady stream of Indians migrated to various cities across the nation to improve their economic and social situations.
¹²
For these people life and work among non-Indians was their first urban experience. The relocation caused stress and anxiety. Insecurity and fear ruled many Natives, making them feel lost and inferior to the majority population of white Americans. They encountered unemployment, poverty, and crime in urban mainstream culture and felt social alienation, community prejudice, and racism. They faced isolation, loneliness, broken marriages, crime, alcoholism, school dropouts, and suicide. Urban culture left many Native people feeling socially and psychologically alienated. Assimilation meant that they became strangers to their own families, communities, and tribes.

The impact of colonization has had a significant impact on Natives. The influence of boarding schools, relocation, and other historical factors contributed to many problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and other mental health problems, and substance abuse, all of which contribute to the high rates of violence so prevalent in the Native community. A study in 1992 reported that Native adults and children appear to suffer commonly from depression.
¹³
Depressed feelings are frequently complicated by anxiety and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Low self-esteem, depression, substance abuse, and life frustrations contribute to an increase in violent behaviors, which include physical and sexual abuse of children, child neglect, spouse and elder abuse, assault, homicide, and suicide.

Other studies have examined PTSD in Native communities. PTSD has been associated with substance abuse, anxiety, and depression. Many Natives have turned to alcohol and drugs to deal with problems caused by their loss of dignity; negative self-perception; discrimination; estrangement; and economic, social, and cultural stress as a way to self-medicate mental health problems. There is a high level of co-occurring disorders in Native communities.
¹⁴

The effects of alcohol and drugs on the Native family are devastating. The family and community closeness have deteriorated and resulted in an increase of family violence. Research suggests that the abuse of Native women and children by Native men can be traced to the introduction of alcohol.
¹⁵
Native programs also point to the cultural genocide of Native people as contributing to the violence against Native women.
¹⁶
A common result of family violence and alcoholism is child neglect and abuse. Child abuse and neglect in Native children is a serious problem. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics, in 1995 there was one substantiated report of a child victim of abuse or neglect for every thirty Native children ages fourteen or younger compared to one report for every fifty-eight children of any race.

Parental alcohol abuse has been associated with child abuse. One study attributed chaotic family situations and other problems such as alcoholism and depression to child abuse and neglect.
¹⁷
Native children who were victims of child abuse are prone to a Multigenerational Trauma Cycle. The literature reports that problems in adulthood were due to being a victim of child abuse. A study found that child abuse and both physical and sexual abuse were risk factors for conduct disorders and that both child abuse and conduct disorders were risk factors for alcohol dependence. Alcohol dependency was a risk factor for physical intimate partner violence. Thus, a history of physical abuse in childhood was a significant predictor of being a victim and a perpetrator of physical partner violence.
¹⁸
The Multigenerational Trauma Cycle contributes to the high rates of violence in our community. As survivors of violence have children of their own, the cycle will most likely continue if coordinated culturally appropriate services are not provided.

Disharmony and imbalance are created by the Multigenerational Trauma Cycle. When harmony and balance are broken, the spiritual self is weak and one is more vulnerable to the effects of the cycle. Restoring harmony and balance is needed in order to break the Multigenerational Trauma Cycle so that the trauma is not passed on to our children and future generations. For our future generations we have to restore the harmony and balance that has been lost in so many Native families and communities.

When identifying risk and vulnerability factors among urban Native women who are victims of violence it is important to recognize the effects of the historical trauma and the Multigenerational Trauma Cycle. These include past victimization, growing up in a violent home, exposure to chronic trauma, substance abuse, poverty, poor self-image, and shame. For urban Native women it also includes being away from their community, the loss of family and cultural support, and being in a new environment. Therefore, when examining violence in Native women, particularly in an urban area, it is important to understand and emphasize the importance of the perpetuation of violence due to the Multigenerational Trauma Cycle.

Effects of Violence on Native Women

Often, urban Native women are not the only victims of the violence—other family members, the community, social systems, and children who are exposed to the violence will often suffer from the effects as well. Frustrations and anger about unjust social conditions combine with depression; alcohol abuse and the social acceptance of acting out behaviors contribute to violence being a major problem in many Native communities. Families where violence is common tend to share an unspoken belief that violence is normal and inescapable. Violence in Native communities, like other destructive and self-destructive behaviors, tends to be associated with low self-esteem, frustration, and alcohol and substance abuse. Negative social conditions like poverty and discrimination create anger and frustration.

There has been an abundance of research documenting the consequences for children exposed to violence.
¹⁹
Not only does domestic violence affect children who witness it, but also its effects are exacerbated when children are themselves victims of child battering. An estimated three million children witness acts of violence against their mothers every year, and many come to believe that violent behavior is an acceptable way to express anger, frustration, or a will to control. Abuse and neglect are associated with both short- and long-term negative consequences for a child’s physical and mental health, cognitive skills and educational attainment, and social and behavioral development. Children of survivor parents typically display strong feelings of grief and loss, abandonment, betrayal, rage, and guilt. Older children may also have feelings of shame. Children have issues around abandonment and separation and some may become parentified. Children’s responses to family violence vary according to temperament and their age at the time the violence occurred. Children who experience or witness domestic violence are at increased risk of adopting these same strategies in their interactions with their partners and children.
²⁰

Barriers to Services in Urban Communities

Native women in urban communities are faced with many barriers when seeking services for victims of violence. These barriers are often related to the risk factors mentioned previously. It is also important to take into consideration historical events, multigenerational trauma, and culture when working with urban Native women in both intervention and prevention.

Moving from a reservation or a rural area to an urban community can be difficult. There are many reasons why Native women may move to an urban area. These include: to find employment, education, or health resources; or to visit or move closer to a family member. In a new urban environment, there is a different system of care to navigate. Many of the women who come to an urban area are unaware of the services available to them, transportation to the services can be challenging, and by leaving their reservation they no longer have family and cultural support. Native women in an urban environment often feel invisible, alone, and isolated. So being in a violent relationship will make life even more difficult. Once the urban Native woman starts to realize that she should leave a violent relationship, she often will not know to whom she can turn for help. If she does decide to leave the violent relationship, her first concern is most often her safety and often the safety of her children. She will be afraid of another beating or being murdered. This can be an extremely difficult decision for a Native woman who does not have support and does not know where to seek support. These women often do not have income or food. Many Native women are below the poverty level in urban environments. They do not have transportation or a safe place to go, and they do not know how to seek services for themselves. As a result, Native women in urban communities who are victims of violence may stay in a violent relationship longer, risking their safety and their children’s safety.

Another important barrier Native women with children encounter is the fear of losing their children. If there is violence in the home, mothers are afraid to seek help from social service agencies who may report them to child protection services agencies, which may in turn remove the children. If the children are removed, many times urban Native women face unrealistic demands to regain custody in a system that virtually sets them up for failure and does not recognize their culturally specific needs. Again, there is a lack of support in obtaining all the services needed to get their children back. Within such a bind, Native women often give up and continue to medicate themselves with alcohol and drugs, increasing their mental health problems, and continuing to be revictimized.

Another barrier in an urban area is misidentification. Natives are often misidentified as another race, which contributes to their reluctance to seek services. If they are misidentified, then the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) may not be followed. Their tribes may not be contacted, and their children may be placed in nonrelative or non-Indian homes. In fact, the parents often do not know their rights concerning ICWA.

Native women with children also often encounter additional barriers to services in an urban area. It is more difficult to find a shelter that takes children, more than one child, or older children. If they are trying to flee a violent relationship in order to protect themselves and their children and cannot find a shelter, they are often left homeless.

Identity problems in an urban community are another difficulty for women and their children. Many Native people often feel invisible, isolated, and do not feel they belong. For example, a Native child may be the only Native student in the entire school. In addition, they experience discrimination and prejudice from non-Indians, making them feel inferior. There are not as many opportunities to participate in cultural events or activities in an urban environment. In urban areas there is such a large number of different tribal groups that there may not be any cultural activities for their particular tribe. As a result there is a loss of cultural identity, which contributes to the depression, other mental health problems, substance abuse, and behavioral problems for children.