Background
This report reviews Norwegian, Nordic and international literature between 2000 and 2011 dealing with some of the challenges facing minority ethnic children who experience violence within the family. The phrase ‘experience violence within the family’ is used in the report essentially about children who experience violence and abuse perpetrated by one parent against the other.
Ethnic minority children and domestic violence
Children from ethnic minority backgrounds who experience domestic violence confront problems and challenges which are not entirely unlike those facing Norwegian ethnic children, but some of the general problems and challenges are thrown into stronger relief. The literature shows that children’s social and cultural background presents both negative challenges, but also positive possibilities for their ability to cope with violent behaviour in comparison with Norwegian ethnic children who are exposed to domestic violence. But we are not talking about a single, large homogeneous group of minority children; there can also be significant differences between and within ethnic minority groups. Research in this field has tended to focus on non-western, especially South Asian, Muslim children. The challenges revealed in this report cannot therefore be generalised to all minority children. More knowledge is needed about other groups of minority children with experience of domestic violence before we can say more about similarities and differences both in terms of challenges to and possibilities for these children.
The research suggests one is more likely to find similarities than differences across cultural divides in children’s experience of domestic violence. Nonetheless, several factors have been found that are likely to exacerbate the situation for ethnic minority children. The challenges concern certain cultural factors within the family and the culture from which the child stems, and certain additional stressors associated with the child’s minority ethnic status.
Of the cultural factors, the following in particular can be mentioned: the family’s hierarchical age and gender-specific structures; patriarchal systems and traditions; role expectations; respect and obedience; collective thinking; significance of the extended family; and family honour. Although these children grow up in two cultures, their thought patterns and behaviour have been shown to follow the family’s and culture’s conceptions of roles and expectations within the family when they experience violence.
Other stress factors have been shown to correlate strongly with the child’s acculturation process and its migration history. Specific additional stressors mentioned in the literature include the immigration/residential status of the mother and/or child; experience of discrimination, racism and stigmatisation; and deeper isolation due to loss of social network and from being a stranger in a new country. Religion can also act as a stressor when the child is threatened with punishment by «divine powers» if they ever talk about the abuse they have witnessed, and religion can be a particularly evident stressor if it is closely interwoven with the culture. Language, too, can be a stress factor, especially when the child lacks linguistic abilities, is used as an interpreter or needs to be interpreted.
At the same time, these challenges have been shown not only to be stressors but also, under certain circumstances, opportunities for the child. The child’s cultural background may, in these cases, provide a form of protection and promote coping strategies in the child, enabling it to survive the violence it experiences. The collectivistic mode of thinking may, for example, prevent the child from individualising and personalising the problems, laying the responsibility instead on the parents or extended family. The support of the extended family abroad and in the new country can prove to be an important resource for children’s coping capacity. Religion, too, can offer significant help to some children in their effort to cope with and survive ongoing violence. The child’s complex set of attitudes and conceptions in negotiations over incompatible values and systems, insofar as they are growing up within two cultures, may prove advantageous for minority children by making them more aware of their options.
Examining the cultural context to provide more effective intervention measures
Researchers believe that an examination of the cultural context from which the child stems should facilitate the identification of specific culture-related challenges, enabling the design of more effective intervention measures for these children. It has been shown, for instance, that the child’s help-seeking behaviour is affected by the cultural aspects and/or additional stressors mentioned above, especially collective thinking, family honour, expectations on the family, pressure from the extended family, and, in the absence of a social network, deeper social isolation. Language can also represent a significant barrier. Many of the minority children in the reviewed studies have experienced lack of cultural sensitivity in the interventions, something which affects their expectations of help and support. This is particularly the case with the child welfare agency. The literature cites many reasons why cultural sensitivity can be difficult to practise, especially when minority children experiencing domestic violence are at the centre of attention. The reasons include lack of general knowledge about children who experience violence and of cultural and minority issues in particular. There is considerable uncertainty with regard to children from other cultures and with regard to how to talk to children about difficult matters such as experience of violence and sensitive issues in relation to the child’s cultural background.
Trauma-related symptoms across cultures
Most researchers agree that the experience violence within the family is consistently harmful to children across cultures and despite different cultural values. There is nonetheless disagreement about whether the specific trauma-related symptoms are the same across cultures, and whether minority children are often misdiagnosed when they experience or have experienced domestic violence, especially in the case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This discussion is particularly concerned with whether PTSD can be said to be a universal diagnosis or not.
Intervention and treatment
Nor is there agreement about which of the intervention and treatment options work best and are best suited for minority children. There is a relatively substantial literature on ethnic minority children, both national and international, concerning different aspects of minority children’s life situation and issues associated with the child’s minority status. There are few studies, however, on the impact of interventions and treatment on these children. The few studies that look specifically at the relationship between the child’s ethnicity, cultural background and experience of domestic violence suggest that minority children may need other forms of intervention and treatment than non-minority children, and that a specifically designed approach might be called for. It is difficult, at the same time, to speak with confidence because, as the researchers and the literature point out, of the lack of knowledge in this field. Having said that, the field is making progress, even if it is rather slow. Customised interventions are under development; what is needed is their evaluation.
Contact with judicial system
Children exposed domestic violence, according to the literature, are likely to come into contact with the judicial apparatus. This is particularly likely in child custody and access cases pursuant to the Children and Parent Act; child welfare cases involving care orders and right of access pursuant to the Act on Child Welfare Services; and criminal proceedings where the child can be a witness against the perpetrator of the violent act and/or appear as a victim. Little is known about whether the challenges facing minority children in these cases are harder in light of their cultural background, and whether and how these challenges are taken into account. It would be of particular interest to study the experiences of children with the county social welfare board and judiciary in relation to children’s right not to be discriminated against; children’s right to protection; children’s right to be heard; and an assessment of what is best for the child given its cultural background when the child experiences domestic violence. In particular, studies which include children’s own views could throw light on the actual experiences of these children and what they themselves believe they need.
Childrens rights
A red thread runs through the literature on children exposed or subject to violence in the family, and that is the tense relationship between children’s right to protection when exposed to violence in the family and children’s right to be heard and take part in their own life. This tension is even greater when minority children are involved, and there is a need to take culture into account. To recognise a child’s views on the context, culture and its own need for protection can be difficult when the child experiencing violence in the family belongs to a society which gives overall priority to children’s right to protection from all forms of violence. The literature shows that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child can be used as a normative framework when we as adults seek to protect minority children who experience violence within the family on their own terms, given recognition of children’s right to participate and to protection. To respect children’s rights, we must clearly condemn violence. To protect children in a way that is best for the child, we must, however, devise and implement defensible intervention measures. Strategies and measures aimed at protecting minority children who experience or are subject to violence in the family will fail unless they take children’s factual experiences of life on board, and unless children’s views about effective prevention, protection and rehabilitation measures are also taken into account. Research shows that the insight of these children into their own situation is well considered, and that they have ideas about solving their problems and which role they can play in implementing the solutions. It is our responsibility as adults to make this happen, and ensure respect both for the child’s right to protection and the child’s right to participate in its own life. The Convention on the Rights of the Child offers this possibility, but the challenge is to achieve a common understanding where today there is no such consensus.