Posted on 11/29/2002 10:54:58 AM PST by I_Love_My_Husband
La Casa warned to shape up
BY ALISON SOLTAU Special to The Examiner
The City's largest domestic violence agency has been told to send its staff to anti-racism workshops following a five-month probe into allegations of racism and lax sanitary conditions at La Casa de las Madres.
The Commission on the Status of Women's investigation was sparked by complaints from some battered Latina women who claimed that the agency's shelter staff were culturally insensitive, failed to provide Spanish translators and served rancid food.
La Casa officials have until Jan. 22, 2003, to prepare a progress report for the commission on how they have begun implementing the recommendations.
The women, who remained anonymous, also claimed the shelter was "infested with rats," and that staff issued strident rules under a general air of regimentation.
Scrutiny of The City's oldest domestic violence agency, whose list of donors reads like a who's who of San Francisco society, has prompted a wider debate among city nonprofits on the need to constantly self-assess and be vigilant against signs of subtle forms of racism and abuse of power.
Belle Taylor-McGhee, who headed the investigation as executive director of the Department on the Status of Women, told a recent commission meeting that many of the alleged violations of health codes could not be substantiated, and the Department of Public Health had since given La Casa the thumbs-up.
But Taylor-McGhee pointed out that although the Mission-district organization marketed itself as a Spanish-speaking support service for Latinas, clients were apparently often forced to use their children as interpreters, subjecting them to intimate details of their parents' abuse.
"There's definitely a need to improve its number of Spanish-speaking staff, particularly within the management," Taylor-McGhee said.
One former client had complained to the commission that La Casa evicted her from the shelter late at night, leaving her and her young children with nowhere to go -- a charge La Casa officials deny.
Taylor-McGhee said La Casa should clearly explain to women the conditions on which they would be removed from the shelter, which includes revealing the shelter's location to an abusive spouse and potentially endangering other clients.
Taylor-McGhee added that while La Casa fully cooperated with the investigation, one thing perturbed her -- the lack of acknowledgement from La Casa workers that the clients themselves thought there was a problem.
"That struck me as a reason to be concerned about whether or not the cultural sensitivity issue could be resolved if, indeed, there's no acknowledgement that the women themselves felt there was a problem."
La Casa's executive director, Kathy Black, said she cooperated fully with the investigation and found the commission's recommendations useful.
"I respect those women and have deep feelings for them because of what they have survived," Black said. "I feel that by assigning them bi-lingual Latina family advocates we made every effort to make their stay as culturally appropriate and sensitive as possible."
The commission cannot compel an agency to address complaints, although, as an agency's source of funding, it can withhold future funding.
Commission president Dorka Keehn said she valued the 26-year-old agency's contribution to San Francisco and wanted to help La Casa "continue to be the best it can be."
E-mail: asoltau@examiner.com
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.