LOOKING AT THE FAMILY

Focusing on the needs of children

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Personal Safety Survey in 2016 showed that of the women who had children in their care when they experienced violence by a current or former partner, 65% reported that their children had seen or heard the violence. Perpetrators of domestic and family violence (DFV) may also use tactics involving children to target women as mothers or carers, including threatening to use the family law and child protection systems against women.

Children experiencing domestic and family violence are more likely to have a range of health, developmental and social problems, and are at higher risk of perpetrating or becoming a victim of violence themselves, which perpetuates intergenerational cycles of violence.

It’s important that people working with children are aware of the impacts that such violence has on  children who live with it, and how they can support them.

Research summary

ANROWS offers a research summary on findings from our projects covering The impacts of domestic and family violence on children  (2nd ed., updated 2019). This covers:

• the PATRICIA project (Humphreys and Healey, 2017), a study on the relationship between DFV support services for women and their children and statutory child protection organisations
• Domestic and family violence and parenting: Mixed method insights into impact and support needs (Kaspiew et al., 2017).

There were common themes identified by the research, including a lack of collaboration between systems that work with families impacted by DFV. In particular, the disconnection between the child protection, domestic and family violence specialist services and the family law system mean that many children continue to be vulnerable to abuse after their parents separate.

Both research papers recommended that the child protection, DFV and justice systems need a more collaborative and individualised response when working with families impacted by DFV.

UPCOMING RESEARCH

Supporting children and the non-offending parent

STACY for Children: Safe and Together Addressing ComplexitY focussing on children

The STACY for Children action research project, led by Professor Cathy Humphreys at the University Melbourne, compares sites where the Safe & Together™ Model is implemented with control sites to examine outcomes for children and their families living with domestic and family violence who are also living with parental mental health issues and/or alcohol or drug misuse. The Safe & Together™ Model seeks to enhance the capacity of those working in statutory and non-statutory child protection to apply a domestic and family violence—informed lens to their practice, record keeping and decision making (particularly in relation to risk assessment and perpetrator risk management). This project builds on the outcomes and resources of the ANROWS-funded Invisible Practices and PATRICIA projects.

RECOVER – Reconnecting mothers and children after violence: The Child Parent Psychotherapy pilot

Developed in the US, the Child Parent Psychotherapy is a model of care for mother-child dyads which aims to enhance relationships and reduce trauma. The RECOVER study, led by Dr Leesa Hooker at La Trobe University, is testing the feasibility of providing this model of care in Australia to mothers and their pre-school aged children who are experiencing domestic and family violence.

The ‘Safe Nest Group’ pilot project – early intervention for mothers and infants leaving family violence

The ‘Safe Nest Group’ program is a closed, infant-led group intervention for mother-infant dyads who have left violent relationships and are staying in refuge or other stable transitional housing. Led by Dr Katie Wood at Swinburne University of Technology, this pilot study is evaluating the effectiveness of this community-based early-intervention program.

Mothers and children with disability using early intervention services: Identifying and sharing promising practice

Services which support people with disability often have very limited capacity in responding to risks of family violence, while services focused on violence prevention are often not skilled in identifying and addressing disability support needs. Led by kylie valentine at UNSW Sydney, this project aims to document and improve practice for mainstream early intervention domestic and family violence services to better engage families with a child or parent with disability.

Prioritising women’s safety in Australian perpetrator interventions: The purpose and practices of partner contact

It is a well-established expectation of the perpetrator intervention system that women and children are provided appropriate support during partner contact. This project, led by Professor Donna Chung from Curtin University, will provide a deeper understanding of how men’s behaviour change programs can do this. It will contribute to improving the quality of services provided to victims by identifying gaps between theory and practice, and providing guidance for practitioners.

Police dismissing sexual assaults

An investigation from the ABC has reported evidence that Australian police reject one in every 12 reports of sexual assault as “unfounded”. The ABC analysed more than 140,000 reports of sexual assault made to Australian police between 2007 and 2017, and found that 12,000 had been rejected.

These cases were dropped because police did not believe that a crime has taken place. As one survivor, Lara, explained, “When they say ‘there’s no evidence’, actually what they mean is they believe the perpetrator over me”.

This disbelief of victims/survivors in the judicial system is rooted in our community’s attitudes about false allegations: the NCAS shows that 42% of Australians think women use sexual assault allegations to “get back at men”—even though nine out of 10 survivors don’t report their assault to police, and false reports are rare (ABS, 2017).

The number of cases that were rejected rose to one in four in some areas. For example, police in Queensland dismiss four times as many reports as “unfounded” than police in Tasmania. Rates of rejection for the NT are unknown, because Territory police refused to provide the investigation with this data.

Differences in local police cultures and attitudes also have implications for whether a report will lead to legal action. A woman reporting sexual assault in NSW or the ACT is half as likely as a woman reporting in Victoria to see legal action taken. In the NT, 26% of cases end without any legal action at all. Every woman, no matter her location, should have equal access to justice.

Police, courts and legislation must be more focused on protecting victims. It’s important that legislation guiding this change is evidence-based and will offer victims/survivors a better pathway to justice. ANROWS is making submissions on sexual consent law reform in NSW and Queensland.

Opportunities

Our Watch survey on primary prevention of violence

Give your perspective on delivering prevention programs, the workforce, how coordination and collaboration occurs, how standards are used, and how findings are evaluated and communicated.

Symposium submissions open: Adolescent violence in the home

The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare is seeking expressions of interest from researchers, practitioners and policy-makers who are interested in presenting at “Reframing how we understand and respond to adolescent violence in the home”, on 13 March 2020 in Melbourne.
Express your interest in submitting presentations, posters, workshops or panels by emailing [email protected].

Census of Workforces that Intersect with Family Violence

Victorians: Give your feedback in the Second Census of Workforces that Intersect with Family Violence. The target audiences for this survey include those who work in a role or roles where family violence or violence against women is not the “significant focus”. The first few questions in the survey will determine whether you are in the target audience. The survey has been extended and will be open until Friday 28 February 2020.

New research

Books & Reports

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2019). 2018–19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) results. (See reports of physical harm here).

Berry Street (2019). The economic case for early intervention in the child protection and out-of-home care system in Victoria. SVA Consulting.

Blagg, H., & Thanlia, A. (2019). Decolonising Criminology: Imagining Justice in a Postcolonial World. Springer Nature.

Carole Zufferey, C., Buchanan, F., (2019). Intersections of Mothering: Feminist Accounts. Routledge.

Government of Victoria: Expert Advisory Committee on Perpetrator Interventions: Final report

Sawrikar, P. (2019). The development and evaluation of an education program for service providers about culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) client victims/survivors of child sexual abuse: Technical Report 1 (Full Report). Griffith University, Queensland.

Togni, S. (2019). Uti Kulintjaku Watiku Project Evaluation Report. Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council.

Warren, D. & Swami, N. (2019). Teenagers and sex. Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Wormith, J. S., Craig, L. A., Hogue, T. E., (Eds.). (2020). The Wiley Handbook of What Works in Violence Risk Management: Theory, Research, and Practice. Wiley-Blackwell.

Articles

Al-Alosi, H. (In Press). Fighting fire with fire: Exploring the potential of technology to help victims combat intimate partner violence. Aggression and Violent Behavior.

Baum, N., & Moyal, S. (2018). Impact on Therapists Working With Sex Offenders: A Systematic Review of Gender Findings. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21(1), 193-205.

Boxall, H., Dowling, C., & Morgan, A. (2020). Female perpetrated domestic violence: Prevalence of self-defensive and retaliatory violence. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice, no. 584. Retrieved from https://aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi584

Douglas, H., & Fell, E. (2020). Malicious Reports of Child Maltreatment as Coercive Control: Mothers and Domestic and Family Violence. Journal of Family Violence.

Fotheringham, S., Wells, L., & Goulet, S. (2020). Strengthening the Circle: An International Review of Government Domestic Violence Prevention Plans and Inclusion of Indigenous Peoples. Violence Against Women.

Husso, M., Notko, M., Virkki, T., Holma, J., Laitila, A., & Siltala, H. (2020). Domestic Violence Interventions in Social and Health Care Settings: Challenges of Temporary Projects and Short-Term Solutions. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Jayasinghe, M., Selvanathan, E. A., & Selvanathan, S. (2020). Are Effects of Violence on Life Satisfaction Gendered? A Case Study of Indigenous Australians. Journal of Happiness Studies.

Kim, M. E. (2019). The Culture-Structure Framework: Beyond the Cultural Competence Paradigm. The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 46(4).

Kim, M. E. (2020). Shifting the Lens: An Implementation Study of a Community-Based and Social Network Intervention to Gender-Based Violence. Violence Against Women.

MacKenzie, M., Gunaydin, E., & Chaudhuri, U. (2020). Illicit Military Behavior as Exceptional and Inevitable: Media Coverage of Military Sexual Violence and the “Bad Apples” Paradox. International Studies Quarterly.

McGinn, T., McColgan, M., & Taylor, B. (2017). Male IPV Perpetrator’s Perspectives on Intervention and Change: A Systematic Synthesis of Qualitative Studies. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21(1), 97-112.

Noble-Carr, D., Moore, T., & McArthur, M. (2019). The Nature and Extent of Qualitative Research Conducted With Children About Their Experiences of Domestic Violence: Findings From a Meta-Synthesis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.

Supol, M., Satyen, L., Ghayour-Minaie, M., & Toumbourou, J. W. (2020). Effects of Family Violence Exposure on Adolescent Academic Achievement: A Systematic Review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.

Stylianou, A. M., Davis, S., & Washington, A. (2020). One Organization’s Approach to Balancing Survivor Empowerment with Mandated Child Abuse Reporting. Journal of Family Violence.

Tarzia, L., Forsdike, K., Feder, G., & Hegarty, K. (2017). Interventions in Health Settings for Male Perpetrators or Victims of Intimate Partner Violence. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21(1), 123-137.

Tarzia, L. (2020). Toward an Ecological Understanding of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Wydall, S., & Zerk, R. (2020). ‘Listen to me, his behaviour is erratic and I’m really worried for our safety . . .’: Help-seeking in the context of coercive control. Criminology & Criminal Justice.