{"id":9391,"date":"2021-11-26T14:16:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T19:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/?p=9391"},"modified":"2024-02-26T15:15:13","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T20:15:13","slug":"the-financial-abuse-shown-in-netflixs-maid-is-a-growing-problem-offscreen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/safe-horizon-in-the-news\/financial-abuse-netflix-maid-growing-problem-offscreen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Financial Abuse Shown in Netflix’s Maid Is a Growing Problem Offscreen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teen Vogue<\/em>
\nBy Ashley Belanger<\/em>
\nNovember 26, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpt:
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Financial\u00a0abuse<\/a>\u00a0is violence. That\u2019s what\u00a0Maid,<\/em>\u00a0on track to become the most-watched\u00a0Netflix<\/a>\u00a0mini-series of all time, vividly showed over 10 episodes released last month, effectively raising awareness for this misunderstood form of domestic violence. Netflix projected that within four weeks, more than\u00a067 million people<\/a>\u00a0watched\u00a0Maid<\/em>\u2019s hero Alex struggle to break free from her partner Sean, the financially controlling and emotionally abusive father of her daughter Maddy.<\/p>\n

Of the many viewers who sympathized with Alex, some were moved to act.\u00a0Maid<\/em>\u00a0author Stephanie Land\u00a0tweeted<\/a>: \u201cI have heard from a few people that folks are donating to DV shelters in honor of #MAIDNetflix and this is the most beautiful thing. Thank you all so much.\u201d Even\u00a0Maid<\/em>\u00a0star Andie MacDowell, who plays Alex\u2019s unreliable mom, told Land she had a friend inspired to make a donation after viewing.<\/p>\n

This sudden outpouring of donations came at a most urgent moment.<\/p>\n

The financial abuse that Alex suffered \u2013 income barriers like when her abuser cuts off her phone, prevents her from working, or takes away her transportation \u2013 was one of the most increased forms of\u00a0pandemic-related domestic abuse<\/a>\u00a0reported, according to a representative from the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Reports show abusers nationwide going to new extremes to exert control by\u00a0limiting<\/a>\u00a0Wi-Fi access,\u00a0lying<\/a>\u00a0about pandemic risks, and\u00a0intercepting<\/a>\u00a0stimulus checks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s so many things that abusers come up with as ways to control you,\u201d Land tells\u00a0Teen Vogue<\/em>, and financial abuse is key to isolating victims.<\/p>\n

Common forms of financial abuse<\/a>\u00a0include taking money without permission, controlling bank accounts, running up debt, credit card fraud, hiding assets, and preventing someone from making money or money-related decisions. Surveys show\u00a0nearly all domestic violence survivors experience financial abuse<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0top reason that survivors stay with abusers is because they cannot afford to leave<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Maid<\/em>, we watch Alex dodge Sean\u2019s explosive outbursts and malicious cut-downs while her friends and family deny the validity of her abuse and the direness of her finances. \u201cIt’s not just about financial control, but it’s wearing this person down,\u201d Land says. As Alex discovers, the only real solution to the financial abuse she experienced was a stable income source, which allowed her the freedom to access child care, safe housing, transportation, and independence from her abuser.<\/p>\n

As the show portrayed, organizations meant to help survivors aren\u2019t always enough. In January, the\u00a0Journal of Family Violence<\/em>\u00a0published results<\/a>\u00a0of a National Alliance for Safe Housing survey of 800 pandemic domestic violence service providers. The authors identified\u00a0guaranteed income<\/a>\u00a0as the most promising way the United States could have financially supported survivors through the pandemic\u2019s double whammy: a dramatic\u00a0spike<\/a>\u00a0in domestic violence and a quick erosion of typical survivor safety nets.<\/p>\n

Attempting to support as many Americans as possible through the economic shock, the federal government provided\u00a0stimulus checks<\/a>, as well as emergency funding to community domestic violence organizations\u00a0through the CARES Act<\/a>, but the\u00a0Journal of Family Violence<\/em>\u00a0report showed that organizations still struggled to meet survivors\u2019 basic needs.<\/p>\n

For Rimsha \u2013 a domestic violence survivor of emotional, physical, and financial abuse who requested her surname and location be concealed for her protection \u2013 she already had a restraining order against her abuser in place when the pandemic started. That didn\u2019t stop him from filing her and their children as dependents on his income taxes, and then intercepting her stimulus checks from the Internal Revenue Service.<\/p>\n

Rimsha has been working with the nonprofit Safe Horizon to contest ongoing identity theft, the last bastion of her abuse.<\/p>\n

While she feels she\u2019s healing from the emotional and physical abuse, it\u2019s the financial abuse she still can\u2019t quite escape, because like most financial institutions, she says the IRS lacks protocols to support domestic violence survivors. Throughout the pandemic, as she\u2019s served as primary caregiver for her special-needs son, it\u2019s been particularly hard to lose out on emergency financial supports like the\u00a0child tax credit,<\/a>\u00a0which was designed to reduce child poverty and serve as a monthly form of guaranteed income for all struggling families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went through hell,\u201d Rimsha says. \u201cThe person who put me through hell is enjoying the payments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite contesting the identity theft since 2019, if Rimsha can\u2019t resolve her stimulus check issue with the IRS by January 2022, she will miss the cut-off for distribution and will never see her payments. She\u2019s not optimistic, and she isn\u2019t the only survivor whose stimulus check got snatched.<\/p>\n

The national non-profit organization FreeFrom, based in Los Angeles, provided direct-cash assistance in\u00a0grants up to $250<\/a>\u00a0to 7,200 survivors in every state and Puerto Rico through the pandemic. They surveyed more than 1,000 grantees on their COVID-19-related setbacks, and heard that stimulus check theft, fewer financial resources, and slowed court proceedings that delayed income from child support were all\u00a0commonly experienced<\/a>\u00a0pandemic impacts that financially drained survivors.<\/p>\n

Health policy expert Naomi Zewde has a vision to help all survivors financially recover from pandemic financial abuse.<\/p>\n

In May, she coauthored a bold policy proposal to abolish poverty through The New School\u2019s Institute on Race and Political Economy. In\u00a0\u201cA Guaranteed Income for the 21st Century,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0it\u2019s outlined how the federal government could use a progressive tax code to increase taxes on the rich and guarantee income for everyone who earns less than the national median household income (between $50,000 for single-adult households and $70,000 for two-adult households).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s designed to lift everyone above the\u00a0poverty line<\/a>\u00a0for what\u2019s estimated to be half the cost of similar policy proposals, by directing funds only to the poorest households in America, including the\u00a0one in four women-headed households who live in poverty<\/a>. Under the policy, impoverished survivors would qualify for up to $12,500 in annual income, and an additional $4,500 per child. By providing\u00a0stable income<\/a>, Zewde believes the policy proposal shows how the U.S. could build a functioning safety net for domestic violence survivors, fortifying the fragile web of pre-existing services that the pandemic proved were inadequate to meet basic needs. And that safety net would be there for every American.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone would have access to assets,\u201d Zewde says. \u201cWhether or not we’re in a pandemic situation, everyone just has like a financial foundation that they can fall on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zewde says this foundation would cover basic necessities as needed, but could also provide funds that anyone who\u2019s poverty-stricken can use \u201cto build themselves up and to make moves in the world and to make choices and to live out their dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Maid<\/em>, Alex attempts to leave her abuser, but his financial abuse keeps her snared. At an especially dire point, she is symbolically shown at the bottom of a pit, her eyes devoid of fight. By the end of the mini-series, she\u2019s worked her way out, methodically plotted her escape and reached new heights in life, literally climbing a mountain with her daughter Maddy. In fiction as in reality, it takes Alex setting up stable income sources to adequately plan for the future and end her financial insecurity.<\/p>\n

That happy ending remains a fantasy for many survivors.<\/p>\n

For survivors of the most extreme forms of pandemic financial abuse, like Rimsha, getting out of that pit will require more than grit and extra maid shifts. It will require systemic changes where government agencies and financial institutions acknowledge the pervasiveness of financial abuse. FreeFrom reports the average financial abuse survivor\u00a0loses more than $20,000 in income and accrues nearly $16,000 in coerced debt annually<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst thing in the world is when you want to get out and you cannot get out, because you don’t have money,\u201d Rimsha says, adding she feels uncertain of any proposed guaranteed income disbursed through the tax code after her struggle with the IRS.<\/p>\n

Zewde agrees with Rimsha that any guaranteed income disbursed by the IRS would only benefit the survivor if they filed taxes on their own, but that once they do file as individuals, they would at least know that money was coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of some type of guaranteed income, obviously, is important and necessary and needed,\u201d says Blair Dorosh-Walther, Safe Horizon program manager for economic empowerment and shelters<\/strong>. \u201cBut it doesn’t help if survivors don’t actually get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To better protect survivors, Dorosh-Walther recommends in part establishing an advisory committee to consult with government agencies and create pathways to resolve common survivor issues.<\/p>\n

Read the original article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netflix’s “Maid” depicts financial abuse, which is one form of domestic violence. Safe Horizon’s Blair Dorosh-Walther discusses how we help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":{"id":9685,"alt_text":"Support children and families in domestic violence shelters","caption":"Peggy Duffy Memorial fund","description":"Support children and families in domestic violence shelters","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":512,"height":512,"file":"2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail.png","filesize":31715,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-300x300.png","width":300,"height":300,"mime-type":"image\/png","filesize":18595,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-300x300.png"},"thumbnail":{"file":"Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-150x150.png","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/png","filesize":8008,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-150x150.png"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":9684,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail.png"},"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[1653,92,1397,1753],"class_list":["post-9391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-safe-horizon-in-the-news","tag-blair-dorosh-walther","tag-domestic-violence","tag-financial-abuse","tag-maid","issue-domestic-violence"],"acf":{"page_header_title":"","title_font_size":"42","page_header_excerpt":"","sub-headline_placement":false,"page_header_image":false,"custom_scripts":false,"show_author_bio":false,"original_url":"","related_initiative_title":"Do you need help?","related_initiative_link":"\/Hotlines","related_initiative_link_text":"Visit our Hotlines Page","featured_posts":[{"ID":10096,"post_author":"12","post_date":"2023-04-12 16:09:55","post_date_gmt":"2023-04-12 20:09:55","post_content":"\"Safe\r\n\r\nBy Mx. blair dorosh-walther, MSW\r\nApril 12, 2023<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe month of April, Financial Literacy Awareness Month, is an opportune time to increase the public\u2019s awareness of economic abuse and how it affects survivors of domestic violence. This unseen form of domestic violence, similar to emotional abuse, is a form of control used by the person causing harm to keep survivors trapped in an abusive relationship and solely financially dependent on them. Whether it\u2019s preventing the survivor from being employed or removing all access to bank accounts and credit cards, survivors are often taken advantage of and can end up in financial ruin.\r\n\r\nThe following provides information on how to identify economic abuse and steps for survivors to regain financial independence.\r\n

What is Economic Abuse?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nEconomic abuse is when a person controls a person\u2019s money, ability to acquire money, use, and maintain their economic resources, such as, but not limited to access to money, credit cards, ownership of assets, or governmental or private financial benefits, including defaulting on joint obligations (i.e. school loans, credit card debt, mortgages, or rent). It also includes id theft, fraud, or coercion. Nearly 99% of all domestic violence survivors experience economic abuse.\r\n

Forms of Economic Abuse<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThe most common forms of economic abuse are:\r\n\r\nCoerced debt: <\/strong>Any financial account that has been opened without consent within an abusive relationship. Harm doers often use threats of violence or sabotage, manipulation, or force to pressure a survivor.\r\n\r\nIdentity (ID) Theft: <\/strong>When an individual\u2019s personal identifying information is used illegally by someone else. This includes theft of their social security number or credit information to have control over the person\u2019s financial accounts (i.e. banking, credit, tax documents).\r\n\r\nTax (IRS) Fraud: <\/strong>When a person takes over a survivor\u2019s ability to file tax returns or obtain access to refunds (see examples below):\r\n