Posted on October 27, 2010 |
Last week I spoke on a panel at UDC’s Law School on Domestic Violence and Reproductive Justice. Much of what I spoke about can be found on this factsheet, but I learned so much from my co-presenters. Larisa Kofman is with the District Alliance for Safe Housing and Tabitha Joyner, who is currently at NARAL, used to work at Break the Cycle.
Did you know that many shelters for battered women will not allow male children (sometimes as young as eight) to stay with their mothers? So a woman is left with three options: 1. Don’t use the shelter and continue parenting while in an abusive home situation; 2. Use the shelter to escape the abusive home and leave her son with the abusive parent; or 3. Identify another source of housing that doesn’t provide the additional security or support provided by the shelter, but allows her to stay with her son.
Some choice, huh?
Fortunately, Larisa and other advocates have fought hard for a law that prevents such discrimination (see section 404). Unfortunately, as with all good laws, enforcement is a serious problem, and boys continue to be excluded from shelters.
The Reproductive Justice (RJ) movement supports the right of individuals to have the children they want, raise the children they have, and plan their families through safe, legal access to abortion and contraception. And yet a system intended to help women escape dangerous relationships actually contributes to reproductive oppression by hindering their ability to parent.
I'd like to thank the members of UDC Law Students for Reproductive Justice, especially Megan Challender for her insightful questions, as well as my co-presenters for contributing to my understanding of these incredibly complex issues.
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Comments
reformation
Why male children can't be with his mother?It's not good for them to continue living in such an abusive home.I think reformation should be done.Nomatter the child is male or female,ought to be protected.
Why?
For the life of me, I cannot understand WHY a male child would not be able to stay with his Mom in her efforts to flee from an abusive situation. It is also beneficial for the CHILD, whether it be male or female, to realize that escape is possible and is a good thing.
Shelters
In some states there is no funding for shelters for domestic violence either on the state or county level. In fact more money is donated to animal shelters than shelters for domestic violence, despite the fact that many women stay in violent situations because they don't want to abandon their pet to their abuser any more than they want to abandon their children to them- and they can't take them to a shelter either. Most of these women will then be blamed by society for staying in abusive situations - contributing to the ceaseless cycle of violence.
Discriminating against male
Discriminating against male children will encourage the cycle of domestic violence.
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