Children's Exposure to Domestic Violence: Is It Child Abuse?
"Each year, millions of children are exposed to incidents of adult domestic violence. Children in violent households are at increased risk of physical abuse and often experience heightened levels of depression, anxiety and aggression. Policymakers are concerned about the effects of domestic violence on children's safety and well-being. Some are considering whether to treat exposure to domestic violence as child maltreatment and to require that such exposure be reported to and investigated by child welfare authorities. Some domestic violence experts have criticized this approach as unnecessary and counterproductive. This report reviews what states have done, summarizes the arguments for and against this new and controversial strategy, briefly reviews some alternative policy approaches to the problem, and identifies some key issues for legislators."
This report offers an analysis and recommendations to address the impact of domestic violence and child welfare systems in communities of color. Six culture-specific organizations were partnered with to create a multi-dimensional analysis for this report. The Dialogues section offers analysis and describes some of the common findings and issues, while the Recommendations section addresses these issues. Thus, critiques and system changes go hand in hand, and are offered in the spirit of constructive engagement and strengthening communities
Advocacy Matters: Helping Mothers and Their Children Involved with the Child Protection System (pdf)
This publication gives domestic violence experts the information they need to deal successfully with child protection systems and to help battered mothers whose children have been removed from their care. Advocacy Matters includes general information and tips that help advocates better address the needs of battered mothers and their children.
The handbook consisits of various practical forms which were developed by advocates to evaluate criminal justice services for women in cases of rape, domestic violence and child abuse. It also has theoretical chapters on understanding how criminal justice systems can help and harm women.
Balancing the Harms - Protecting Children
The author addresses the need for change in the child protection system and the current means through which children are removed from the home in domestic violence situations. The page provides a short video clip from the author's work-in-progress which addresses actual cases.
Battered Women and Their Children
Battered Women and Their Children is a website devoted to a professional and scholarly examination of the connections between domestic violence (woman abuse) and child maltreatment (child abuse and neglect).
Building Bridges Between Domestic Violence Organizations and Child Protective Services
This paper provides both background information and a framework for collaboration with child protection agencies that will support the work of domestic violence advocates as they try to improve safety for women and their children.
Building Safety for Battered Women and Their Children into the Child Protection System (pdf)
This is a report based on three separate consultations by Praxis with communities wanting to explore the use of the Safety and Accountability Audit in child protection cases where there has been a history of domestic violence. This report shows how to use case files and focus groups to locate systemic problems in the handling of these cases. It is a preliminary examination of the problematic practices in working with battered women within a child protection case.
November 1997. This paper is meant to serve as a working document rather than the "last word," and it will be subject to revision as child welfare and domestic violence agencies on the vanguard of creating partnerships learn more about the link between child abuse and domestic violence, and how to best protect both children and their abused mothers. While the suggested practices and policies are by no means exhaustive, it is hoped that setting them out will save agencies from having to "reinvent the wheel," and will, at the same time, motivate them to add additional "spokes."
A surprising number of battered women lose custody of their children to their abusive partners. This document describes some of the legal and cultural trends surrounding custody and visitation decisions and the social science evidence supporting a need to consider domestic violence in these decisions.
Describes major legal and social trends surrounding custody and visitation decisions and the social science evidence supporting the need to consider domestic violence. Recommendations for custody and visitation decisions are explored.
Child Protective Services for Children of Battered Women: Practice and Controversy
1995. A look at the difficulties that child protection workers face when trying to make a situation safe for children who witness woman abuse.
Child Welfare Practices for Cases with Domestic Violence (pdf)
This is the third edition of Child Welfare Practice for Cases with Domestic Violence, developed as part of an overall effort to increase the safety of adults and children through collaboration of domestic violence services and child protective services.
Child Welfare: Health & Human Services
This website provides a number of documents and related resources, particlarly for child welfare workers. Training resources and interventions are provided as well.
Children's Domestic Violence Assessment Tool (pdf)
"The purpose of this tool is to help assess safety, risk, strengths and needs. It may be used to assist in decision making and service planning during any stage of the CPS case (assessment through case planning and case management) in conjunction with required Structured Decision Making Tools. The tool is designed for use with the child(ren) in CPS cases involving domestic violence."
Children, Young People and Domestic Violence (pdf)
The author explores "the ways in which children and young people experience domestic violence," as well as the impact it has on child development and the response by professionals and the child protection system is also reviewed.
This article addresses the likely and realistic outcome regarding custodial care decisions during divorce battles. It would seem aparent that the parent responsible for inflicting abuse upon their child is often the one to receive unsupervised visitation rights and often even full legal custody as well.
Domestic Violence and Child Welfare Services
Statistics and links to helpful resources and information related to child welfare and domestic violence are provided in this document.
Domestic Violence as a Form of Child Abuse: Identification and Prevention
By looking at the ways child exposure to domestic violence manifests itself during the various stages of a child's life, the author documents ways to identify problems in exposed children and discusses specific intervention strategies.
Domestic Violence, Visitations and Custody Decisions in New York Family Courts (pdf)
The study reported here was designed to examine the extent to which visitation or custody was sought and granted in cases involving domestic violence, through a review of Family Court records in New York City.
This is part of a series that was created through a collaboration of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, the Vermont Department for Children and Families and the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services. Part VI discusses actual and perceived conflicts of interest when service providers act in more than one role or relationship, providing recommendations on how to address these dilemmas/questions.
Family Violence Handbook for the Dental Community
This is a guide for all members of the dental team. It deals with how to address family violence issues in dental practice, the educational setting, the professional association, and the community at large.
This report summarizes the dialogues from the Women of Color Network (WOCN) focus groups on domestic violence and child welfare. Over one hundred (100) domestic violence and sexual assault activists of color participated in these focus groups. The report includes a set of recommendations and highlights from their conversations regarding issues and barriers for battered women with children from communities of color.
The guidelines describe model policies, practices, programs, and protocols that address the multiple needs of families and children affected by domestic violence and child maltreatment. They are based on recommendations contained in the Greenbook and on the thoughtful recommendations provided by public child welfare agency directors, domestic violence advocates, child advocates, and legal representatives.
Guidelines for Responding to the Co-occurrence of Child Maltreatment and Domestic Violence (pdf)
The purpose of these Guidelines is to provide direction to child protection staff when responding to situations in which child maltreatment and domestic violence are both occurring.
This is a briefing paper prepared for a Wingspread Conference of a similar title. It discusses family violence, specifically against women and children, barriers to helping the victims, and the importance of collaboration to effect change.
Information Sharing in Collaborative Relationship: Domestic Violence and Child Protection (pdf)
This series was created through a collaboration of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, the Vermont Department for Children and Families and the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services. Part III provides general guidance and possibilities for policy development regarding information sharing between systems and presents avenues for effective inquiry where these issues intersect.
This document introduces voices of battered immigrant, refugee and indegenious women who were also involved in Child Protection Services. The document explores how community approach can enhance the physical, spiritual and mental health of individuals, families and communities and how this concept can be well utilized for policy and practice for social services.
Model Protocol for Advocates Working with Battered Women Involved in the Child Protection System (pdf)
This protocol includes policy and practice recommendations for advocates who work with battered women involved in the child protection system.
Mothers and Children: Understanding the Links Between Woman Battering and Child Abuse
This is a briefing paper for a strategic planning meeting on the Violence Against Women Act. "This paper focuses on an important gap in our current understandings of family violence: the link between woman battering and child abuse. It is surprising that after so many years of public attention it is only in recent years that a discussion of this link has begun to appear in the literature. At present, there is much more we need to know about the overlap between woman and child abuse."
This series was created through a collaboration of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, the Vermont Department for Children and Families and the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services. Part V describes the structure and purpose of child protection teams, provides guiding questions for domestic violence advocate members of such teams and highlights recommendations.
Prevalence and Effects of Child Exposure to Domestic Violence (pdf)
A review of the problems associated with making valid and reliable estimates concerning the prevlance of child exposure to domestic violence in included in this document. Additionally, the impact of such exposure is discussed and the document ends with a discussion surrounding the need for more empirical research in order to effectively intervene with exposed children.
This 145 page article is a comprehensive review and critical discussion about the laws and child protection responses that have shown to be effective.
Responding to Child Maltreatment and Domestic Violence
This article discusses the ongoing debate between child protection workers and domestic abuse advocates. It also outlines the similarities between the two groups as they work towards similar goals.
Responding to the Co-occurrence of Child Maltreatment and Adult Domestic Violence in Hennepin County
In this report, Drs. Edleson and Beeman and their research assistants detail information collected from a variety of sources during the first half of 1999. Information collection included detailed reporting by child protection screeners and investigators in the Hennepin County Department of Children and Family Services (HCDCFS), consulting with national experts in this area, reviewing published materials on prominent demonstration projects from around the United States and Canada, and holding a series of stakeholder meetings throughout Hennepin County.
Responding to the Co-occurrence of Child Maltreatment and Adult Domestic Violence in Hennepin County
In this report, Drs. Edleson and Beeman and their research assistants detail information collected from a variety of sources during the first half of 1999. Information collection included detailed reporting by child protection screeners and investigators in the Hennepin County Department of Children and Family Services (HCDCFS), consulting with national experts in this area, reviewing published materials on prominent demonstration projects from around the United States and Canada, and holding a series of stakeholder meetings throughout Hennepin County.
Sharwline Nicholson v. Nicholas Scoppetta - Appeals Decision
This document outlines the Appeals decision regarding the case of Nicholson (filed as a class action in federal court in 2001). This history of this decision is based on the class action lawsuit in which battered mothers and their children in New York City successfully challenged the City child welfare agency's practice and policy of removing children from battered mothers and charging the mothers with child neglect due to domestic violence. The federal court ruled that the practice is unconstitutional under federal law. The case went up on appeal.
Should Childhood Exposure to Adult Domestic Violence Be Defined as Child Maltreatment Under the Law?
Published as a chapter in Protecting Children From Domestic Violence: Strategies for Community Intervention (2004), this article reviews the research on childhood exposure to domestic violence and emerging laws aimed at protecting these children. The author concludes with an argument against assuming that childhood exposure to violence is automatically a form of child maltreatment and suggests the need to modify child protection services and the expansion of primarily voluntary community-based responses to these children and their families.
Strategies to Improve Supervised Visitation Services in Domestic Violence Cases
This Violence Against Women Online Resources commissioned document describes the evolution of supervised visitation services for domestic violence cases, notes legal trends in these cases, describes practice concerns, and presents strategies to improve the safety of participants when supervised visitation, due to domestic violence, is court-ordered.
Supervised Visitation: Information for Mothers Who Have Been Abused (pdf)
"This Guide should be given directly to mothers who have experienced abuse and whose children are in supervised visitation programs. It will tell mothers basic information about how supervised visitation programs work and how she can prepare herself and her children for the experience. If she is afraid of her children’s father or was abused by him, then the information in this Guide will be particularly helpful to her."
This document displays the results of a comparative overview of the child welfare response within Canadian boundaries to child exposure to domestic violence. Implications for policy are discussed.
The project seeks to increase the identification of violence against women in international parental child abduction cases processed in U.S. Courts. That identification will allow the American legal community to help protect battered mothers and their children as they cross international borders to safety in the United States. Specifically, this Web site provides information and resources for individuals, attorneys and non-lawyers who litigate or participate in cases involving the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction where domestic violence is an issue.
The Overlap Between Child Maltreatment and Woman Abuse
Reviews over 35 studies on the overlap between child maltreatment and woman battering in the same families. This paper has now been published in Violence Against Women, 1999, 5(2), pp. 134-154 and is no longer available on this site. This link, however, goes to a brief VAWnet paper on the topic.
Training Child Welfare Workers on Domestic Violence
Final Report, June 1998. In October of 1995, the Columbia University School of Social Work (CUSSW) was awarded funds to train public child welfare workers to understand and intervene appropriately with families where there was concurrent child abuse or neglect and woman abuse. This objective was accomplished by designing, implementing, and evaluating a competency-based training curriculum on domestic violence for direct service workers in the New York City Administrationm for Children's Services (ACS). The training curriculum was designed to impact worker's attitudes toward domestic violence, provide them with knowledge and skills for assessing domestic violence, and enhance their practice with families in which there is woman abuse. This paper is the final report CUSSW's project.
United Nations Report on Violence Against Children
The report describes the scope and nature of violence against children and its impact, approaching its subject from the perspectives of human rights, child protection, and public health. The report is available in 8 languages.
Violence Against Women Document Library
A huge variety of information and resources are categorized by topics relating to children and domestic violence, including information about advocacy, child custody and protection, and criminal justice responses.
Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs
This is a full-text online book made available courtesy of The National Academies Press. This important book, published in 1998, details out chapter by chapter the different types of interventions to be utilized by different types of professionals, as well as makes recommendations.
When Children Experience Domestic Violence: Expert Opinion
This document includes a summary of a ruling made by a New York Judge to stop removing children from battered women because children of such women are exposed to domestic violence.