Learning goals
This chapter will enable you to:
UNDERSTAND that children living with family violence are of cross-sectoral concern, as these children appear in the case loads of child protection, alcohol and other drug, mental health, disability and family services, as well as services in the housing and specialist domestic violence sectors
SITUATE your practice within a gendered understanding of family violence
RECOGNISE the impact of family violence on children and how children live in different contexts of protection and vulnerability, often including other adult issues of alcohol and other drugs and mental health problems
UNDERSTAND the ways in which family violence constitutes an attack on the mother–child relationship
ASSESS risk and safety factors consistent with your role in responding to women and children living with heightened vulnerabilities
CONTRIBUTE to the development of safety plans for women and children escaping violence, recognising that their needs are both separate and interdependent
RECOGNISE that working with children living in the midst of family violence requires multi-agency working within complex legal contexts.
Introduction
CHILDREN LIVING IN the midst of family violence experience high levels of fear and confusion as they watch, or become aware of – and sometimes embroiled in – the abuse and violence (physical, emotional, sexual) of the key caring adults in their lives. This ‘wicked problem’, which defies any easy solution, is essentially a gendered social problem in which the primary victims of violence and abuse are women and their children, though we note that this is the dominant, but not the only, pattern of abuse. This chapter is divided into two parts. In ‘Understanding the knowledge base’ we address key issues in relation to gender, prevalence and the impact of violence on the lives of women, children and men. In ‘Practice responses’ we attend to the demands of the practitioner response from the first point of engagement through to supporting safety and accountability within a multi-agency context.