Topic: Child Abuse/Incest - NIWAP Web Library

[pdf] Training Materials for Victim Advocates and Attorneys (11.28.23) (+)

Training materials for family lawyers, prosecutors, and state family, civil and criminal court judges assisting immigrant crime victims Topics include: U visas, T visas, Family Law cases, VAWA Self-Petitions, VAWA Confidentiality, Public Benefits, Best Practices, Language Access, Webinars, Podcasts and more.

Published November 28 2023 by * NIWAP, Office on Violence Against Women

Topics: Adoption, Asylum, Battered Spouse Waiver, Best Practices and Collaborations, Board of Immigration Appeals and Immigration Judges, Child Abuse/Incest, Demographics, Domestic Violence, Dynamics of Sexual Assault, Dynamics of Stalking, Dynamics of Violence Against Immigrant Women and Children, Dynamics, Culture, & Safety, Family Law, Gender-Based Persecution, Harassment, Immigration, Language Access, Law Enforcement, Legal Services, Migration, Acculturation, Integration Immigrant Women, Physical Health, Screening, Checklists, and Comparison of Immigration Relief, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), State Immigration Legislation, T Visa & Human Trafficking, Trafficking Victims Protection Act, Trauma-Informed Assistance, U Visa and Immigrant Crime Victims, VAWA Confidentiality

[pdf] MedlinePlus Child Abuse (6.19.17) (+)

Published November 28, 2023

Topics: Abuse, Neglect,, Child Welfare & Parental Rights, Child Abuse/Incest, Dynamics of Violence Against Immigrant Women and Children, Mental Health, Physical Health

[pdf] Guimares v. Brann (May 8 2019) Supreme Court of Texas (+)

Marcelle Guimaraes v. Christopher Scott Brann (Texas Supreme Court). NIWAP, represented by KL Gates, served
as lead amicus on a brief before the Texas Supreme Court. The amicus curiae brief is filed on behalf of a woman who is fighting for complete custody and the ability to keep her child in Brazil away from the child’s father, who had abused the mother. The mother won a contested Hague
Convention Case in which both parties participated and the mother was granted the right to keep the child
in Brazil and was awarded full custody. The Texas trial court ignored the Brazilian order and in a divorce proceeding awarded custody to the father.

Published October 6, 2023

Topics: Abuse, Neglect,, Child Welfare & Parental Rights, Amicus Briefs, Child Abuse/Incest, Custody, Domestic Violence, Dynamics of Violence Against Immigrant Women and Children, Dynamics, Culture, & Safety, Family Law, Hague and Parental Kidnapping, Immigration, Mental Health, Migration, Acculturation, Integration Immigrant Women

[pdf] Jessica Ruth Gonzales v. United States of America Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (December 5 2007) (+)

Amicus brief submitted to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights after Castle Rock police department failed to enforce an order of protection against Ms. Gonzales’s husband. This brief argues that there is an international consensus recognizing states’ obligation to protect against domestic violence and provide effective remedies for its victims. Even if laws and orders are issued, they must be enforced. The police failure to enforce the protective order in this case, together with the United States’ failure to provide a judicial remedy for this lack of enforcement, violate established international human rights treaties and standards, under which states are required to respect, protect, and fulfil women and girls’ rights to be free from gender-based violence, including domestic violence.

Published September 27, 2023

Topics: Abuse, Neglect,, Child Welfare & Parental Rights, Amicus Briefs, Child Abuse/Incest, Domestic Violence, Dynamics of Violence Against Immigrant Women and Children, Dynamics, Culture, & Safety, Family Law, Hague and Parental Kidnapping, Harassment, Protection Orders

[pdf] S.E.R.L v. U.S. Federal Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit (September 25 2017) (+)

Amicus Brief in S.E.R.L v. U.S. NIWAP filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of a Honduran woman who had helped her daughter escape from a domestic violence perpetrator who had trafficked the daughter to Mexico. The brief discussed the extent to which those who intervene to protect their family from perpetrators of domestic violence are at risk of violent retaliation by the perpetrator, up to and including death. She fled Honduras seeking asylum in the U.S. out of fear of more retaliation. This amicus was filed in the 3rd Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in a case in which S.E.R.L is seeking gender based asylum as a Honduran woman who intervened in a domestic violence relationship who are left completely vulnerable to violent retaliation. Crowell and Moring (September 25, 2017)

Published September 25, 2023

Topics: Abuse, Neglect,, Child Welfare & Parental Rights, Amicus Briefs, Asylum, Board of Immigration Appeals and Immigration Judges, Child Abuse/Incest, Domestic Violence, Dynamics of Sexual Assault, Dynamics of Violence Against Immigrant Women and Children, Dynamics, Culture, & Safety, Family law, Family Law, Gender-Based Asylum, Immigration, Immigration, Research Data, Stories, Trafficking

[pdf] Rosa Marisol Avelar Oliva Board of Immigration Appeals (February 16 2018) (+)

Amicus Brief in Matter of Rosa Marisol Avelar Oliva, NIWAP filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of an El Salvadorian woman who suffered child abuse and was held in isolation for years. The Immigration Judge found that she was not credible. The brief discussed the psychological and developmental effects of trauma and how childhood rape and sexual abuse can significantly impact witness’s demeanor and ability to testify and report the abuse. The brief addressed how childhood trauma impairs brain development in key regions responsible for memory, reasoning, and planning. The amicus was filed in the Board of Immigration Appeals in a case in which Rosa Marisol is seeking gender-based asylum and withholding of removal. Crowell and Moring (February 16, 2018)

Topics: Abuse, Neglect,, Child Welfare & Parental Rights, Amicus Briefs, Asylum, Board of Immigration Appeals and Immigration Judges, Child Abuse/Incest, Domestic Violence, Dynamics of Sexual Assault, Dynamics of Violence Against Immigrant Women and Children, Dynamics, Culture, & Safety, Family Law, Family law, Gender-Based Asylum, Immigration, Immigration, Mental Health, Physical Health, Research Data, Stories, T Visa & Human Trafficking, Trafficking, Trauma-Informed, Trauma-Informed Assistance

[pdf] BIA Amicus Invitation and Amicus 2016-0609 (September 1 2016) (+)

BIA Amicus Invitation 2016-0609 Amicus Curiae Brief of National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project and The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service submitted this amicus brief to the Board of Immigration Appeals discussing the brain development and neuroscience of how having experienced or witnessed trauma impacts the brain development of children and adolescents. The brief argues that in cases of child asylum applicants’ waivers of the one-year deadline based on extraordinary circumstances must be presumed for children under the age of 21. The brain science also supports waivers of the deadline for older youth in their 20s who can demonstrate based on the totality of the circumstances of their case and the impact of the trauma they suffered on their lives that they meet the extraordinarily circumstances test. (Crowell and Moring: September 1 2016)

Published September 20, 2023

Topics: Amicus Briefs, Child Abuse/Incest, Dynamics of Violence Against Immigrant Women and Children, Dynamics, Culture, & Safety, Research Data, Trauma-Informed, Trauma-Informed Assistance, VAWA 1994 - Legislative History, VAWA 2000- Legislative History, VAWA 2005 - Legislative History, VAWA 2013 Legislative History

[pdf] Reina Victoria Rodriguez-Ramirez v. William P. Barr Motion and Amicus US Court of Appeals 5th Circuit (August 16 2019) (+)

Reina Victoria Rodriguez-Ramirez v. William P. Barr. NIWAP filed an amicus curiae brief in the 5th Circuit Court in Texas. The brief discusses how incest relationships qualify as a domestic relationship and how laws of domestic violence should apply. Baker and McKenzie LLP. (August 16, 2019)

Topics: Amicus Briefs, Asylum, Board of Immigration Appeals and Immigration Judges, Child Abuse/Incest, Domestic Violence, Dynamics of Sexual Assault, Dynamics of Violence Against Immigrant Women and Children, Legislative History, Research Data, VAWA 1994 - Legislative History, VAWA 2000- Legislative History, VAWA 2005 - Legislative History, VAWA 2013 Legislative History