The provision of culturally specific care for victims of family violence in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the diversity of opinions held by front-line family violence workers in Auckland, Aotearoa, on the issue of culturally specific care. Front-line workers are positioned at the interface between the system of services and benefits available from the state and the victims in need. In order to make sense of family violence discourses operating at the national level, I use front-line workers’ perspectives to analyse the national frameworks for culturally specific care designed for Asian, Pakeha, Pasifika and Maori victims of violence. This article highlights the distance between policy and quotidian front-line service delivery.

Keywords:

• family violence
• multiculturalism
• front-line workers

Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by the American Association of University Women and a Pacific Rim Research Grant. The Sociology Department of Quinnipiac University provided the space and support to write the final manuscript. I want to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful critiques of the manuscript. Karl Bryant, David Crawford, Francesca Degiuli, Helene Lee and Mark Schuller helped to make it readable. I owe special thanks to Jennifer Wies for her encouragement and commitment to victims of violence, and to all the workers who shared their stories and perspectives with me. Aroha.

Notes

1. Over four million people live in Aotearoa. In the 2006 census five main categories of ethnicity were enumerated: European, Maori, Asian, Pacific Peoples and Middle East, Latin America and Africa (MELAA). Over two million Europeans, or Pakeha, the Maori word used for people of European descent, make up the majority of the population. Maori account for little over half a million persons, followed by Asians who number nearly 400,000, nearly 300,000 Pacific Islanders, or Pasifika and just under 200,000 MELAA (Statistics New Zealand 2006).

2. More in-depth qualitative and quantitative research on the front line will enhance the recommendations laid out in a 2005 Families Commission report authored by respected researcher Fanslow (2005).