Social Work - Research Publications

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    Domestic violence and the politics of trauma
    HUMPHREYS, CATHY ; Joseph, Stephen (Elsevier, 2004)
    Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has had a chequered history in relation to gender-based violence and specifically domestic violence. There is evidence that a significant proportion of women who are abused suffer from PTSD. However, there remains a controversy about whether this is a useful and progressive concept on which to base intervention. Mainstream mental health services in the UK have shown little ‘take up’, while women’s services supporting survivors also remain ambivalent, although for different reasons. Clinical psychology has been where the concept has been embraced. This paper highlights aspects of Judith Herman’s (Herman, Judith (1992). Trauma and recovery. New York: Basic Books) original intervention framework which have remained undeveloped, specifically the attention to social support and the need for an active social movement. These ideas have been marginalized in the development of professional and individualised approaches to survivors. It is suggested that reinvigorating these ideas would enhance the work with survivors and provide greater resonance with the underpinnings of work with women’s services.
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    Domestic violence and child abuse
    HUMPHREYS, CATHY (Department for Education and Skills, 2006)
    The risks of harm to children caused by domestic violence have now been recognised. An amendment to the definition of harm in the Children Act 1989 now includes ‘impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another’ (Adoption and Children Act, 2002). This reflects that children living with domestic violence are over-represented among those children referred to statutory children and families teams with concerns about child abuse and neglect, and represent up to two thirds of cases seen at child protection conferences. However, children’s experiences of domestic violence are more than a child protection issue. Research with children suggests it has implications for education, health, welfare, civil and criminal justice.
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    Whatever happened on the way to counselling? Hurdles in the interagency environment
    Humphreys, Catherine (Elsevier Science Ltd., 1995)
    A study of confirmed cases of child sexual abuse showed that only 56% of children received an appointment at a counselling agency in spite of explicit policy guidelines that children have an opportunity for counselling in the aftermath of the abuse. The study revealed that problems created at all levels within the interagency environment led to children becoming "lost" in the system and not receiving the services from which they could have benefited. Particular attention is given to changes in the broader policy and resource context which have ramifications at the local interagency level and in the services provided for sexually abused children.
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    Exploring new territory: police organizational responses to child sexual abuse
    Humphreys, Catherine (Elsevier Science Ltd., 1996)
    Police response to the escalating numbers of child sexual abuse cases has led to the development of a wide range of organizational models within both police departments and the interagency context. This paper compares the results of different models of police intervention in New South Wales, Australia. The data suggest that specialist police units in which police manage the full investigation provide a more comprehensive service than those where the police response is fragmented between units within the police force.
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    What’s in a name? Reflections on the term 'non-abusing parent'
    Hooper, Carol-Ann ; Humphreys, Catherine (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 1997)
    For some time we have been concerned that the use of the term ’non-abusing parent’ in recent years may have had some negative consequences for policy and practice. This term has been widely adopted to refer to one parent, usually the woman, where a child has been sexually abused by the other, or to both mother and father where a child has been sexually abused by a non-parent. Our concern is that it may enable the needs for professional help of both parents and children in these circumstances to be overlooked.
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    Child sexual abuse allegations in the context of divorce: issues for mothers
    Humphreys, Catherine (British Association of Social Workers, 1997)
    The investigation and assessment of allegations of child sexual abuse constitute a difficult and contentious area for practitioners involved in this process. When these allegations emerge in the context of divorce, the problems of assessment appear to be compounded. This paper argues that when mothers raise concerns about child sexual abuse during divorce proceedings these are often construed as vindictive or misguided. Such constructions of mothers have significant implications for the protection,or lack of protection of children in these circumstances. The way in which this ’knowledge’ about mothers has developed is explored and held up against the results of empirical studies which show that there is little basis for this construction of mothers. Possible explanations for this incongruity are suggested with a view to progressing child protection in this area.
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    Night terrors: women's experiences of (not) sleeping where there is domestic violence
    Lowe, Pam ; HUMPHREYS, CATHY ; Williams, Simon J. (Sage, 2007)
    The management of sleep is embedded within the social context of individuals’ lives. This article is based on an exploratory study using focus groups of the sleep problems encountered by 17 women survivors of domestic violence. It argues that fear becomes the organizing framework for the management of sleep and illustrates how this takes place both while living with the perpetrators of violence and after the women have been rehoused. It argues that sleep deprivation is a method used by the perpetrators to exert control over women and that this has long-term implications for women’s physical and mental health.
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    Domestic violence and child protection: exploring the role of perpetrator risk assessments
    HUMPHREYS, CATHY (Blackwell Synergy, 2006)
    This article explores the issue of severity in relation to domestic violence and provides a number of reasons for the necessary engagement by workers with such a contentious issue. The specific role that the assessment of the risks posed by the perpetrator which has now developed in some police forces in the United Kingdom is examined, and its relevance to child welfare intervention discussed. A range of factors are identified that heighten the risks of increased violence. These include prior sexual assault; stalking and controlling behaviour; substance misuse and mental-health problems; separation and child contact disputes; pregnancy; escalation including the use of weapons and psychological abuse; attempts and threats to kill; child abuse; isolation and barriers to help-seeking. The ways in which perpetrator risk assessment can be used to inform the filtering of referrals to the statutory child care agency, enhance multi-agency working, provide a structure for the assessment of the perpetrator, enhance partnership-working with survivors (usually women) and inform the protection strategies for workers are explored.
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    Women whose children have been sexually abused: reflections on a debate
    Hooper, Carol-Ann ; Humphreys, Catherine (British Association of Social Workers, 1998)
    Women whose children have been sexually abused have been the subject of a polarized debate between feminist practitioners/writers and family therapists. This paper explores the development of that debate, outlining the key characteristics of work which was informed by family systems perspectives and the contrasting understandings which feminist perspectives brought to analysis and practice. Both feminist perspectives and family therapy have changed since the original debate erupted. This article explores issues which may have been obscured within feminist perspectives. These are, first, the difficulties in the mother-child relationship and, second, the contribution which aspects of family therapy can make to progressing the interests of women and children in the aftermath of child sexual abuse.
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    Avoidance and confrontation: social work practice in relation to domestic violence and child abuse
    Humphreys, Catherine (Blackwell Science, 1999)
    Action on the relationship between domestic violence and child abuse has been slow to emerge in mainstream child protection agencies. This paper reports a qualitative study of child protection files. Particular attention was given to the issues for Asian families. Initially the numerous strategies which social workers and other professionals at child protection conferences used to avoid the issue of domestic violence are explored. However, there was also a small, but emerging, pattern of child abuse in the context of domestic violence being taken seriously. In each of these cases strong expectations were placed on women to separate from or remain separated from men who were violent. These expectations were backed up by ’threats’ or the actual accommodation of children often with little interagency support for women undertaking this difficult and dangerous task, or before women were ready to undertake this separation. Suggestions were made about aspects of the organizational context which need to change if good child protection is also to include appropriate protection and support for the child’s mother.