Voiceover:

Thank you for watching Paper to practice evidence-based advocacy made simple. In this video, we will define economic abuse and provide strategies for helping survivors affected by economic abuse. We hope this video will not only expand your knowledge, but provide you with resources and tools to support survivors of this type of abuse. Each year in the US, millions of people seek help from service providers for domestic abuse. Domestic abuse is a pattern of behavior used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner over time. This limits the victim survivor's autonomy and freedom to direct the course of their own lives. Economic abuse is a common component of this type of abuse. In this video, we will hear from Dr. Adrian Adams, professor of psychology at Michigan State University about her research on economic abuse and its effects on victim survivor's lives. First, let's define economic abuse.

Economic abuse involves behaviors that control an individual's ability to acquire, use, and maintain economic resources, thereby threatening their economic wellbeing. These abuse tactics can be categorized as either economic restriction or economic exploitation. Economic restriction involves imposing limits on a part's access to and use of economic resources. This can include interfering with employment, preventing a partner from accessing their own earned income, hiding financial information, and damaging or destroying property. Economic exploitation involves forcibly, coercively or fraudulently using a partner's economic resources to one's own advantage. This could look like the abuser refusing to contribute income to household expenses, stealing money from their partner, or creating debt in the victim's. Survivor's name

Dr. Adrienne Adams:

Economic abuse can have dire consequences for victim survivor's lives. It can leave them without money for basic necessities, settle them with debt that they can't afford to pay, damage their credit, making it difficult to secure housing or other resources that require credit, hurt their career or employment prospects, and diminish their mental health. Given these harms, it's not surprising that lack of economic resources is a key reason that victim survivors stay longer in abusive relationships than they want to.

Voiceover:

Economic abuse is more common than people might suspect. Evidence suggests that economic abuse is as common in abusive relationships as physical and psychological abuse. Research suggests that 93% to 99% of women who are receiving services for domestic abuse have experienced some form of economic abuse based on evidence from multiple different studies. It is estimated that between 49 and 92% of service seeking women have experienced economic restriction, and between 38 and 83% of service seeking women have experienced economic exploitation. The economic abuse being so common for domestic abuse victim survivors, it is important to know how to identify when someone is experiencing it. We will discuss this next. When helping individuals facing domestic abuse, it is important to look for signs of economic abuse. Look closely at common targets of economic restriction and exploitation such as employment, income, spending, savings, property and financial information. Ask about how economic decisions are made in the relationship, particularly how these types of economic resources are managed and used. Listen for signs that the victim survivor partner is using force coercion, sabotage, fraud, and or manipulation to impose their preferences and harm their partner. As a starting place for the conversation, you can also use available tools such as the brief revised scale of economic abuse, SEA two, or the more comprehensive economic abuse assessment form, which are linked in the course materials.

Dr. Adrienne Adams:

When economic abuse is identified, there are steps that can be taken for the victim's survivor to try to prevent further harm and begin to recover. As examples steps to prevent further harm can include freezing the victim's credit so that no new accounts can be open without their knowledge opening their own accounts at a new or a different bank. Then requesting paperless banking and having all statements and other communications sent to a new email account that the partner doesn't know about are advocating with a landlord or employer to prevent the victim survivor from being evicted or fired due to their partner's actions. Steps to begin recovering from economic abuse can include helping the victim survivor access and review their credit reports for issues that need to be addressed, requesting debt forgiveness or negotiating lower payoff amounts with creditors on the basis that the debt was created by an abusive partner, or connecting them with an attorney to learn about their legal rights and possible remedies to pursue. Of course, with any strategies, it's important to consider the victim survivor safety and discuss how their partner may react to any of these strategies.

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In addition to identifying and addressing economic abuse at the individual level, intervention at the organizational level is necessary to mitigate the effects of economic abuse on a survivor's quality of life. Interventions at organizational levels can include workplace policies and employer support, financial institution protections, social services, and nonprofit initiatives and educational interventions. Next, let's discuss some of the barriers advocates may face when helping survivors of economic abuse.

Dr. Adrienne Adams:

Economic abuse can be a difficult topic to discuss for both the victim, survivor and the advocate In general, people often find it uncomfortable to talk about money, especially if there's feelings of shame around one's financial situation. Also, when personal finance is considered private, asking about money can feel overly intrusive. So when bringing up the topic of economic abuse, it's important to make sure that you're in a private setting where you and the survivor can feel comfortable. Explain that you want to talk about their financial situation because many victim survivors are hurt financially by their partners, and the damage can be far reaching and long lasting. You want to normalize that. It can be difficult to talk about money and remind them that you're there to help and not judge them. Also, approach the conversation from a position of respect and emphasize autonomy. This is important because economic abuse, victim survivors often lack voice in the economic decisions that affect their lives. The conversation that they're having with you must be different To be

Voiceover:

Helpful. In this video, we learned that economic abuse is just as common as physical, psychological, and other forms of abuse. It can manifest in many ways and limits the survivor's resources, options, and independence. Survivors can be helped by having a potentially difficult conversation about money in order to identify economic abuse, and then brainstorming and acting on ideas for how to prevent further harm and start on a path to recovery. In the next video, we will learn more about coerced debt, a specific type of economic abuse.