This section provides information on the legal options that are available for immigrant women who experience sexual violence. It also provides useful tools for advocates and health care providers when providing services for immigrant women.
No Free Pass to Harass: Protecting the Rights of Undocumented Immigrant Women Workers in Sexual Harassment Cases
This guide is intended as a tool for effective litigation of sexual harassment claims brought on behalf of immigrant women workers.
Winning U Visas after the Regulations
This article provides practice pointers on how to prepare winning U visa applications, based on the authors experience working with Congress to create the U visa, with Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) to implement its interim relief process, and with practitioners in the field who have won interim relief for noncitizen victims of crime.
Winning U Visas: Getting the Law Enforcement Certification
This paper describes the requirements for U visas and emphasizes the need for practitioners to establish a good working relationship with law enforcement officers and help build trust between immigrant survivors of domestic violence and the law enforcement system. The article provides strategies for collaborating with local law enforcement.
Document Gathering for Self-Petitioning Under the Violence Against Women Act, A Step by Step Guide
This manual provides guidance on gathering necessary documents for VAWA self petition.
Building Collaborations to Help Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
This presentation discusses updates on the visa process and means to collaborate to assist victims who apply. Congress created the visa to help both noncitizen victims of crime and law enforcement working with this vulnerable community. Domestic violence, sexual assault, and other crime victim advocates, mental health professionals and lawyers all have a role in making the visa work.
VAWA 2013 and TVPRA: What Practitioners Need to Know
The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013), combined with the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), was signed into law on March 7, 2013. This practice advisory provides an overview of substantive changes and technical fixes both in VAWA and TVPRA as well as practice pointers for attorneys and advocates on how to work with these new changes.
Public Benefits Access for Battered Immigrant Women and Children
This chapter provides information on public benefit access by types of immigration status, legal requirements for qualifying as battered ÐqualifiedÓ immigrant, different categories of public benefits for which immigrant survivors may qualify, and guidance for advocates and attorneys to address issues that may arise when applying for benefits.
A Quick Guide to Immigrant Eligibility for Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Key Federal Means-tested Programs
This chart provides information on which public assistance services are available to immigrant women, including undocumented immigrants.
Clinical Protocol: Victims of Abuse
This sample clinical protocol describes how the clinic works with patients who are suspected of being victims of abuse.
United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally: What Does it Mean for Sexual and Reproductive Health?
This fact sheet summarizes the 2012 Unites States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally which aims to strengthen the United States global response to gender-based violence through service integration, coordination across agencies, and diplomacy.
Medical Interpreter Competency Checklist
This checklist provides guidelines and evaluation for medical interpreters.
Access to Healthcare for Immigrant Victims of Sexual Assault
This chapter describes the range of services an immigrant victim of sexual assault can access through different programs and services of the health care system.
Immigrants and the Affordable Care Act
This document reviews how immigrants are included in health care reform per provisions in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). Spanish version available.
Culture Handbook
This handbook highlights the importance of culture and provides guidance to develop cultural competency at the individual and organizational levels.
Preventing Gender-based Violence, Building Livelihoods: Guidance and Tools for Improved Programming
The guidebook gives tips on how to design safe economic programs and livelihood activities to help prevent gender-based violence.
Breaking the Silence: A Training Manual for Activists, Advocates and Latina Organizers
This manual suggests strategies for organizing, how to work together as a group, how to ensure that the group stays together, how to start an agency to provide culturally specific services, and how to negotiate and improve the system.
Building the Rhythm of Change: Developing Leadership and Improving Services Within the Battered Rural Immigrant Women's Community
This manual includes useful start-up tools such as a sample agenda, sample skits, a Power & Control Wheel, and a sample budget.
The Community Engagement Continuum: Outreach, Mobilization, Organizing and Accountability to Address Violence Against Women in Asian and Pacific Islander Communities
The Community Engagement Continuum documents a range of innovative community based approaches in the anti-violence movement and clarifies the goals of engagement. This model encourages a more strategic approach to all four levels and offers tools towards realistic step-by-step implementation.
Latinas and Sexual Violence
This fact sheet addresses cultural and linguistic considerations for improving outreach into Latin@ communities with a special focus on Latinas. It promotes greater awareness of the barriers to services that Latina victims face and tools for removing those barriers.
Special for Immigrant Women
The article suggest that the immigrant women ask for interpreter when seeking help, leave clear phone messages when calling for help, and to not to give up if the person they contact the first time is not helpful.
The Interpretation Technical Assistance & Resource Center (ITARC) offers training and technical assistance to advocates, interpreters, and social and legal services providers on: Federal and state laws and policies on language access in civil and criminal courts, Meeting the needs of culturally diverse victims/survivors with limited English proficiency, Improving language access policies and practices in organizations and systems, Roles and responsibilities of advocates and systems personnel at various points of contact, Model programs and practices for interpretation services,Training and qualifying standards for court interpretation, and Finding and working with interpreters.
Resource Guide for Advocates & Attorneys on Interpretation Services for Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Trafficking Victims
These guidelines focus on court interpretation for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or trafficking with limited English proficiency. It is intended to inform how advocacy, interpretation, and language access can be integrated.
Developing a Language Access Plan for Your Agency
This tip sheet clearly lists the steps that domestic violence programs can take to develop a language access plan for Limited English Proficiency individuals.
What's in a Word? A Guide to Understanding Interpreting and Translation in Health Care
This guide explains the difference between interpretation and translation, and provides standards of practice and methods and modes of interpreting and translating.
Identifying Whether an Interpreter is Needed and Tips for Working with an Interpreter
This tip sheet presents information on how to determine if a client needs an interpreter and provides tips on working with interpreters to communicate effectively with clients. It also provides guidelines on assessing the interpreter's knowledge of the Code of Professional Responsibility and on assessing the interpreter's skill to interpret the information accurately.
Ensuring Language Access to Immigrant Victims of Sexual Assault
This Chapter demonstrates that although immigrant victims can legally access services that are available to protect victims regardless of immigration status, such as sexual assault and domestic violence services, law enforcement protection, and immigration relief, many immigrant victims are unlikely to seek help due to language barriers, isolation, and lack of information about available help.
The Multilingual Access Model: A Model for Outreach and Services in Non-English Speaking Communities
This project recruited and trained bicultural-bilingual advocates from area ethnic communities to provide assistance to victims and initiate outreach and awareness activities in their communities. Assistance to 6 provide
Reaching Individuals Along All Literacy Levels
The bulletin includes an overview of the link between literacy and sexual violence and tips on developing universal outreach, prevention, and intervention materials.