Why do some families have more access to what they need to be safe and stable? And what can be done to address these resource gaps between families? This final section of the chapter explores why some families don’t have access to what they need.

At the macro-level, systemic perspectives on inequality highlight how classism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination are built into our social structure. These systemic inequalities make it so that marginalized groups don’t have equal access to safety and stability. These macro-factors directly impact micro-level factors, such as the ability to have quality family relationships.

There are also significant barriers to addressing violence and abuse at the micro-level that are also integral to ensuring that families are safe and stable. Finally, we’ll look at a few examples of how policies, organizations, and individuals have tried to address these issues.

9.5.1 Limiting Factors for Safety and Stability

In the previous section, we looked at how interconnected factors promote safety. When families lack an essential resource—food, shelter, or healthcare—they experience increased vulnerability. But why do some families have a deeper sense of safety and stability than others? Much of the reason that some families are more able to access safety and stability than others directly relates to systemic inequalities in society, including classism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, and ableism.

At the macro-level, quality family relationships and access to resources are intertwined. If a parent has to work 60–70 hours a week to support their family, they may have strained relationships with their partner and children.

Systemic inequalities also directly impact the quality of family relationships. For instance, more Black children grow up without a father in the home today than during slavery, primarily due to mass incarceration and the racially motivated War on Drugs (Alexander 2010). Another example can be seen in the 2014 murder of Eric Garner. A combination of racist institutional policies allowing chokeholds and racial biases led to Garner’s five children losing their father to police violence. These are examples of macro-level policies and systemic inequality impacting families on the most intimate, personal levels.

At the micro-level, families’ lack of safety and stability also stems from intimate partner violence and child abuse. Despite increased services to address intimate partner violence, many places in the country don’t have access to services to help victims leave an abusive relationship.This is particularly an issue in rural areas. This lack of resources connects back to the macro-level factors we discussed above, where some groups have significantly greater access to resources than other communities.

Additionally, funding for social services is generally tenuous. Many organizations that address intimate partner violence do not have enough resources to meet service demands. Numerous factors contribute to these shortages, including cuts in grant funding, unstable fundraising, or overworked staff.

Even when victims have access to services, it can be tough to leave an abusive relationship because of the power and control an abuser has over their victim. While it can be hard for the victim to psychologically and emotionally break away from their abuser, they also face physical risk when leaving a relationship where there is intimate partner violence. Remember, the risk of homicide by an abusive partner is highest when someone is leaving the relationship.

Just as there are barriers to addressing intimate partner violence, there are also barriers to addressing child abuse. More child abuse occurs than is reported to official agencies responsible for addressing this issue. Scholars commonly refer to this gap as the ‘dark figure’ of child abuse. Even if child protective services identify children experiencing abuse, these experiences can also be traumatic and expose them more to trauma. This is especially true if they’re placed into foster care.

9.5.2 Addressing Barriers to Safety and Stability

So how can we address barriers to promoting and creating safety and stability? Families need robust social support. Families directly benefit and become safer when we increase access to financial resources, food, shelter, and other basic needs. These improvements can also not be completely effective unless we work to address the legacies and current manifestations of racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ableism, and other forms of oppression within our society and institutions. Otherwise, we will only see a reimagining of old systems of oppression in new forms.

For example, we can see how Black families have been continually impacted by institutional racism across U.S. history despite reforms: slavery, sharecropping, Jim Crow laws, redlining, and mass incarceration. If we truly want all groups to experience safety, we need to dismantle the systems that lead to some groups having significantly better outcomes and experiences with institutions

At the micro-level, education is integral to preventing, identifying, and effectively addressing issues such as violence and abuse. Efforts to educate childcare providers, teachers, and medical providers about the signs of child abuse can help the people who are most likely to interact with children notice the signs of abuse and intervene.

At the same time, broader education about intimate partner violence can help people identify early warning signs of abuse. Education can also help people know how to appropriately respond if they or one of their loved ones is in an abusive relationship. Education is also crucial for helping families create healthy relationships within and outside of their families. This is especially vital for groups who have experienced historical traumas that may be passed down across generations.

9.5.5 References

Alexander, M. (2010). The New Jim Crow. The New Press.