Hearing the Voices of Children Living With Domestic Violence
In 1997, the Federal Government funded and endorsed the project Partnerships Against Domestic Violence, an initiative between the Commonwealth, States and Territories which had the aim of working collaboratively towards the common goal of preventing domestic violence across Australia. The research described in this paper is one of a number of projects funded by the Partnerships Scheme.
The rationale for the project to be presented in this paper is exemplified in much of the literature, which suggests that until very recently the needs of children with domestic violence were for the most part left unattended. McIntosh (2002:2) discusses the work of early researchers as speaking of children as either ‘witnesses’ or ‘observers’ of domestic violence the implication being that children are not as directly affected by the violence as adults.
The exclusion of children from a front-line response to domestic violence has exacerbated the tendency of workers to address the needs of children through their mothers or to overlook children completely. An unintended consequence of this practice trend has resulted in workers experiencing anxiety and uncertainty as to how to engage with children in domestic violence situations constructively and respond to their needs directly. In part this has allowed domestic violence not to be seen as a child protection issue until the last decade.
The explicit aim of the research described in this paper was to develop a front line response framework and to develop and trial best practice strategies for workers who have contact with children living with and/or experiencing domestic violence. The framework and the accompanying best practice strategies have been developed in response to an extensive consultation process (sixty agencies in five Australian States and Territories) with workers from a wide variety of organisational and professional group.
This paper will present the development of a non-therapeutic front line response framework to children living with domestic violence and discuss the accompanying best practice strategies. Examples of training materials and methods designed to support the framework will also be discussed.