THE VULNERABLE FACE OF MIGRATION: THE ROLE OF THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH IN DOMESTIC PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Migration is a multidimensional and complex process that significantly increases the risk of domestic violence, particularly for women and children, due to the socio-economic, cultural, and legal challenges it brings. This systematic review aims to analyze the physical domestic violence experienced by migrant women and children from a multi-layered perspective within the framework of the ecosystem approach, one of the fundamental approaches of the social work discipline. Findings in the literature reveal that migrant women and children face multiple and intertwined challenges, such as language barriers, physical and psychosocial health problems, economic dependence, legal uncertainties, social isolation, and the normalization of violence through certain cultural norms. The ecosystem approach, which is prominent in the social work discipline, addresses clients within their micro, meso, and macro environments, providing holistic interventions and focusing not only on the problem itself but also on its underlying causes. Consequently, it is argued that effective and sustainable intervention strategies for the phenomenon of domestic physical violence experienced by migrant women and children can only be developed through an integrated, culturally sensitive approach based on inter-agency collaboration that encompasses all these systemic levels.