To Help South Asian Families
Through Maitri
 Maitri
is an organization that helps families from South Asia
(Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka among
others) facing domestic violence, emotional abuse, cultural
alienation, human trafficking or family conflicts in
the San Francisco Bay Area. Our website address is www.maitri.org.
We have an on-going need for family law attorneys to
work for our low-income clients on their divorce, child
custody, spousal support, child support and restraining
order cases. In addition, we seek immigration law attorneys.
There are many ways attorneys can help Maitri and its
clients: through pro bono representation (one client
a year, two clients a year, etc.), using a sliding scale
for attorney fees, doing limited scope representation,
offering one-hour free consultations, answering staff’s
legal questions, and presenting workshops (on divorce
law, child custody, immigration law, etc.). We welcome
your ideas on how to help.
At the moment, we have a need for advice from a bankruptcy
attorney and an attorney who works on accident insurance
claims.
One very important criterion for us is that attorneys
who work with Maitri clients must have a philosophy
compatible to that of Maitri: helping to empower women
to live full and self-determined lives. Maitri believes:
Violence occurs in every group regardless of race,
color, ethnicity, or sexual preference
The South Asian culture is no more or no less prone
to domestic violence than any other culture. Battering
is a learned behavior and the violence lies within the
batterer. The battered individual is not responsible
for the batterer’s behavior. Domestic violence
includes both physical and emotional abuse.
Stereotyping of Asian women gets in the way of the
women getting help and being helped. Stereotypes are
frequently used as simplistic explanations for complex
situations. We need to discourage the simplifying of
the oppression of women’s lives.
It is not in our place to judge the actions of our
clients. We do not ask our clients “why don’t
you just leave the relationship?” or say “just
try to work it out”.
If you would like to provide your legal services to Maitri,
please contact Rachna Singh at legalprogram@maitri.org
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