[If students have the necessary background information:] How did Maria’s experience compare with what we know generally about survivors of domestic and sexual abuse? What did Carla do specifically to help Maria deal with the abuse she faced?

Question

Carla Hudson, a Black social worker with the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), had worked with Maria Velasquez, a Mexican immigrant and mother of two children, for several years as she struggled to escape a violent home situation. Maria was Carla’s first Spanish-speaking client. Maria’s spoken English was easily understandable, but she could not read or write English well. As Carla assisted Maria in acquiring mainstream services, including Head Start, TANF, Food Stamps, and WIC, she noticed barriers to services that she began to suspect were related to discrimination against Spanish-speaking clients. When two White Head Start caseworkers refused to help Maria attain educational support that she needed in order to gain English literacy, Carla faced the challenge of addressing discrimination issues in another agency and perhaps throughout the service delivery system in Jasper, Alabama.

Answer 1

Maria’s stepfather sexually abused her over a long period during her childhood. Her mother seemed to excuse his behavior and asked Maria to forgive him. She sought escape from this abusive relationship by marrying Rodney when she was 18 years old. His abuse of Maria began soon after they married and included sexual abuse, financial abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse. She had reached out for help at least once before while they were living in Spain, but dropped the charges because of Rodney’s threats.
Maria first called The Women’s Resource Center (WRC) in July 2000 after a violent episode with Rodney. She had just given birth to her second child. Rodney’s sister, Debra, assisted Maria and gave her the number of WRC. Maria benefited from the services of WRC but after six months wanted to try to make the relationship with Rodney work. She thought she was strong enough. She had learned enough to keep her own financial affairs a secret from Rodney so that she had some of her own money stashed away. She also continued to participate in counseling with Carla and kept attending the support group meetings. Shortly after Maria’s return to Rodney, the abuse resumed.
This case suggests the classic cycle of abuse, although the case does not specify details about the typical honeymoon phase after an abusive incident. Since Maria wanted to return to Rodney after being in the shelter for a few months, we could perhaps assume that he was trying to attract her back to him.
Carla helped Maria through the abuse issues by helping her arrange a safe place to live, achieve self-sufficiency, gain a stronger sense of self, gain literacy skills, save money, and connect with a support group. She encouraged Maria to continue to attend the support group after Maria chose to return to Rodney and assured her that she could return to the shelter if she needed to do so. Carla was aware that many women return to their abusers. She made sure that Maria knew that the door was always open for her to receive help from WRC, a major goal of any intervention with people who are in abusive relationships.