Social Work - Research Publications
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ItemDomestic violence and the politics of trauma(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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ItemDomestic violence and child abuse(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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ItemNight terrors: women's experiences of (not) sleeping where there is domestic violence(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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ItemDomestic violence and child protection: exploring the role of perpetrator risk assessments(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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ItemAvoidance and confrontation: social work practice in relation to domestic violence and child abuse(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.
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ItemDomestic violence and child abuse: developing sensitive policies and guidance(Wiley, 2001)Domestic violence is everywhere and nowhere. No statutory organization or health service has work with either perpetrators or survivors of domestic violence (usually women and children) as the primary focus of their service, yet all agencies will have very significant numbers among their clients/service users. It is therefore crucial that the policy framework is developed both within and between agencies to address the need, and scope, of intervention in this area and particularly the impact on children. Currently, significant steps have been taken by some agencies in the UK to address this previously neglected issue, though the developments are patchy. This paper draws on a UK-wide research study which mapped the extent and range of service provision for families where there is domestic violence and also developed a framework of good practice indicators for provision in this area. This article examines one of the indicators of good practice arising from the research—that of policy development—within social service departments and within the multi-agency arena.
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ItemNeither justice nor protection: women’s experiences of post-separation violence(Routledge, 2003)Post-separation violence is an issue for a significant group of domestic violence survivors (and their children) leaving abusive relationships. This article draws on research conducted with women who have experienced post-separation violence. It explores definitions and the nature of post-separation violence experienced by women and often their children. More than three-quarters (76 per cent) of the 161 separated women in the study initially suffered further abuse and harassment from their former partners. Much of the violence ceased after the first 6–12 months, often due to the woman moving. However, more than one-third (36 per cent) of the women suffered continued post-separation violence. Against this background, women’s experiences of legal routes to protection are examined and the effectiveness of the law in tackling the issue of post-separation violence explored. In so doing, post-separation violence is used to exemplify and further explore Smart’s contention that there are many contradictions and complexities in the practice of the law, particularly as it relates to the on-going oppression of women (1995: 145). For a group of women, violence escalated over time. These women and their children were seriously at risk of harm. Poor law enforcement, the ineffectiveness of civil protection orders and inadequate prosecution and sanctions left these women (and their children) vulnerable to further assaults and harassment. Child contact was a point of vulnerability for on-going post-separation violence and abuse. The implications for future policy and practice are highlighted.
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ItemDomestic violence and substance abuse: tackling complexity(Oxford University Press, 2005)Domestic violence and substance use are issues which pervade social work practice, yet are often on the margins of the knowledge base for practitioners and their managers. This article provides an overview of the literature on substance use and domestic violence, highlighting the problems with the separation of both practice and policy in these areas. Research on substance use and the needs of women survivors of domestic violence are explored, alongside the more substantial literature on perpetrators of domestic violence and patterns of substance use. The problems of a simplistic analysis which suggest that there is a causal link between substance use and domestic violence are highlighted. Using data from an on-going research project, the sources of the continuing and dysfunctional separation of work in these areas are explored.