Endorsements
“This is a significant work on a critical issue that is under-researched and often misunderstood by professionals: the experiences of racialized immigrant children living with their parents’ intimate partner violence. The book is an important resource for professionals in social services, child protection, education, law enforcement and the justice system, as well for students who want to pursue careers in these areas. It is also vitally important for policy makers to read this book to better understand the needs of these vulnerable children and youth and improve their outcomes.
The book is based on interviews with 12 young adults, who reflect on their experiences as children of parents who immigrated to Canada and lived with mothers who were victims of abuse perpetrated by their male partners, most of whom were also the children’s fathers and included one stepfather. They had a wide range of experiences, but all had significant challenges reflecting intersectional effects of family violence, age, culture, race, and for many of them gender and poverty.
The book has extensive quotes that capture the experiences, emotions, and wisdom of these young adults. It also offers a detailed analysis from an Anti-Oppression Perspective, reflecting the authors’ understanding of the effects of both the abuse in the home and the systemic effects of racism, cultural insensitivity, and the lack of adequate social and economic supports for these children, as well as recognizing the importance of children’s rights.
While set in a Canadian context, the content of this book will be highly relevant for other countries in the West with increasingly diverse immigrant and refugee populations.”
Professor Nicholas Bala, W.R. Lederman Distinguished University Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University
“This e-book on the voices of racialized immigrant youth who witnessed and experienced family violence is a valuable addition to the field of research on children exposed to family violence and responds to the large gap that is addressed when listening for the views of racialized youth. The quotes provided from the participants highlight the contextual flaws inherent in past efforts to help such youth. The importance of understanding the views of children and youth who have lived through family violence comes through in each chapter. How these children and their families have been impacted by poverty, war related traumas, cultural contexts, immigration, housing problems, educational gaps, systemic abuses, etc., and where to make changes in the various sectors trying to help the families (such as education, mental health, family law, justice, and welfare services) is provided. The ten recommendations and suggested process steps to aid implementation of the recommendations provides excellent suggestions for making changes in all sectors that the youth feel could be improved upon. Rather than the westernized, individualistic model for services, trauma-informed, culturally informed, collectivist frameworks that work with the whole family are encouraged. A must read for those in law, education, the social-service, health, and mental health fields. I wish I had access to it earlier in my work career.”
Dr. Daniel Terrence Ashbourne, Psychologist, Executive Director Emeritus at LFCC, Accredited Family Mediator, and Consultant/Trainer at Navigating Onward (NavOn).
“Breaking the Silence: The Untold Journeys of Racialized Immigrant Youth through Family Violence” is a profoundly moving and honest account that empathetically exposes the hidden stresses endured by racialized immigrant youth in the face of family violence. In this study, the Authors amplify the importance and humanize the voices of racialized immigrant youth. They do so, not only as a pure act of caring and listening, but also to shine light on their voices as a reliable warning signal for increased family violence. Their voices matter and listening to them can make a difference. Through sharing of the racialized immigrant youth’s personal experiences, you get a sense that the authors are gently holding up these youth and their stories as a powerful reminder. Such youth are living, breathing, hopeful, angry, sad, accommodating, questioning, thoughtful young people that deserve the professionals that touch their lives to serve them at a higher level, to see them, to trust them, and to advocate for change.
Dear Authors, thank you for this “call to action” we hear you.”
Mary-Anne Popescu, Executive Director, Ontario Association for Family Mediation
“ I am happy to fully endorse the e-book “Breaking the Silence: The Untold Journeys of Racialized Immigrant Youth through Family Violence” because I believe that it is an essential document for continued work in Family Violence. Having worked in the area of Family Violence for many years I strongly believe that many children witness Family violence in various forms however often their voices are omitted. I want to thank the authors for beginning to look at the issue of Family Violence through the eyes of the children, the future generation.”
Antoinette Clarke, Child Protection Mediator, Executive Director, Peel Family Mediation Service
“Ms. Medhekar and colleagues have conceived, researched and authored an impressive report, based on empirical study, on voices of racialized immigrant youth who experienced family violence as children that deals with a very important and topical problem that afflicts Canadian and other societies around the world. The report reaches detailed and insightful conclusions that ought to spur immediate, urgent and concerted action from both government and the civil society designed to arrest and prevent incidence of the ills identified in the study and reorient state and society in the country. The very specific recommendations offered in the report should assist greatly in this regard. It should also be compulsory reading for every member of our society.”
Prof. Obiora Chinedu Okafor, Edward B. Burling Chair in International Law and Institutions, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, The United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity
“Breaking the Silence is a groundbreaking read that sheds light on the darkness of racialized youth living through family violence. The stories bring us closer to the inner struggles that are unique to racialized youth and are successful in their attempt to broaden the definitions and understanding of family violence, ranging from the individual to the community and system level. Voices of the youth validate the multiple and indescribable barriers shared by both themselves and their parents as first-generation immigrants and refugees. By focusing on an under-explored area, the authors not only help to fill a significant gap in the research field, but also provide recommendations with input from the youth themselves, to enable better support for racialized children and families experiencing domestic violence. Only a deeper understanding and appreciation pertaining to the lived experience of youth in racialized communities would facilitate effective service delivery. As such, this book would serve as an important resource for professionals in the legal, community, and healthcare sector who work with racialized communities and likewise influence policy makers in creating sustainable changes in the area of family violence.”
Dr. Pushpa Kanagaratnam, Clinical Psychologist
“The report Breaking the Silence: The Untold Journeys of Racialized Immigrant Youth through Family Violence not only provides an opportunity to deepen understanding of the impact of family violence on racialized youth, but also demonstrates the need to develop and embrace culturally responsive approaches across all sectors and systems.
Hearing the voice of youth with lived experience illustrates further the need for a call to action from all levels of government to acknowledge and implement change to racist policies and practices that continue to exacerbate experiences of Family Violence.
I highly recommend this book as not only a study guide but also as a road map to bring about change to societal institutions.”
Jakki Buckeridge, Manager for Family Services, Indus Community Services
“This book presents a unique and inclusive approach to understanding the experiences of racialized immigrant children in the context of family violence. It uses real-life case studies, personal experiences, and systemic responses to contextualize the social context of violence experienced by these children. The book also provides a legal framework for families and a trajectory for law reform while acknowledging gaps in the existing literature and the compounding impacts of systemic and structural violence. Through moving case studies, the book illuminates the children’s diverse experiences, the impact of violence on their lives, and the response of societal institutions. It offers practical information for students, service providers, legal practitioners, and policymakers, making it accessible to experienced and new readers. Overall, this book provides valuable insights into the intersectional migration experience and proposes approaches to bring change to existing systems.”
Deepa Mattoo, Barrister and Solicitor & Executive Director, Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic
“This is a powerful book as the authors bring together some of the biggest challenges of social work practice: recognizing systemic and political oppression, identifying violence, and offering recommendations for practice that acknowledges personal strengths and struggles while holding the state accountable for providing safety for all families. It is uniquely situated to offer scholars, students, and practitioners with research-based insights into the complex issues of family violence experienced by racialized youth. It resists blaming race, families or youth for violence and centralizes the impact of systemic influences on families while holding perpetrators accountable for their actions.
The recommendations for policy and practice will be particularly useful for students and practitioners as they grapple with the multifaceted assessments that are required for intervention. Focusing on the strengths of youth, recognizing individual differences among family members, resisting the urge to generalize about racialized families are more reasons to use the readings to advance ethical practice with racialized families. And finally, it is timely as it centralizes issues of race as part of the Canadian landscape. For too long, practice for racialized families in Canada has been seen as an add on to be addressed if funds are available or other similar ‘reasons’; an approach that places racialized people outside the fabric of ‘Canadian’ society thereby contributing to the denial of the presence of racialized families as part of the core of Canada. I will be using this book for my future projects!”
Dr Sarah Maiter, Professor, School of Social Work, York University.
“Thank you to the twelve individuals who bravely told their stories in this study and thank you to those who witnessed their stories so they could be shared with us- the reader.
It is unfortunate that many readers will recognize their own experience on these pages given FV is prevalent in all cultures and countries. The impact of FV on children’s functioning and development is important learning for anyone working with children and their families in any capacity. Trauma specialists are aware that from a neurobiological perspective, children who experience DV do so on a deep visceral level. This means that even though the DV is indirect, the child is not just a witness but is directly impacted as a victim given these experiences kickstart a perpetual state of fear and toxic stress which in turn impacts the development and functioning of the hippocampus area of our brains. This neurobiological state has long standing implications (learning difficulties, mental health challenges, self medicating substance use) given exposure to your primary caregiver being hurt (defined as indirect family violence in this text) means that you cannot be protected either nor feel safe in any of the milieus you function in.
The importance of this study however, is that it shone a light on the additional barriers to safety and treatment for children of racialized immigrant families. Their experiences are often more isolating and the cost of self -disclosure and/or seeking support makes the child even more vulnerable. This book not only shares the precipitating and perpetuating factors of FV but identifies short and long term recommendations for implementation that need to be facilitated with an anti oppressive lens by not only individuals but also systems who interact with children and families.
Thank you to the research team for this important contribution to literature and practice. We need to stop the cycle of FV. The long term effects just cost too much. Consequently, this study needs to be required reading across professions for practitioners and students.”
Theresa Fraser, Trauma, Loss and Attachment Specialist
“This groundbreaking seminal text that is available in an accessible format is a robust resource for multidisciplinary professionals. Using a phenomenological approach and by gathering data through in-depth semi-structured interviews with racialized immigrant youth, the authors have brought into view the importance of noticing the people behind the statistics and media reports whose lives are impacted irreversibly by family violence (FV). This focus makes it an excellent resource while teaching in higher education to highlight how intentional selection of particular methodology amplifies the research data in meaningful ways.
As a resource for practitioners, recommendations 4,5 and 10 resonate deeply with the mandate of work within the K-12 educational sector: Recommendation 4 asserts that schools have an important role to play in supporting children, especially those who experience FV. Recommendation 5 invites professionals across the various disciplines to acknowledge “how systemic violence intersects and exacerbates experiences of family violence”(p.16). Recommendation 10 “Provide anti-racist, anti-colonial, trauma-based, and culturally appropriate training for educators, social, community, and justice practitioners” is especially relevant to the educational work done in schools at all levels as it is a call to action to interdisciplinary collaborations to ensure the safety and well-being of racialized immigrant youth.”
Dr. Rashmee Karnad-Jani, K-12 Special Education Consultant, York Region District School Board and Sessional Lecturer, B.Ed Program, Ontario Tech University
