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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & CHILD PROTECTION
Please see our Risk Options section. This course is one or two days and is usually only available as a two trainer course. Section 120 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 has amended the “threshold criteria” of Section 31 of the Children Act 1989 to include the consideration of whether “significant harm” has been caused to a child exposed to domestic violence (DV). In effect, this provision means that domestic violence between adults is now itself a “tripping” mechanism for Part V of the Children Act and, in particular, Section 47 of the Act. This remains the case even if the child has never received any kind of physical injury during episodes of violence between members of his / her family. Furthermore, "violence" does not necessarily mean physical violence and "abuse" or "maltreatment" are probably better and more generic terms. The principal consideration in such cases is less the chance of inadvertent injury to the child (although this is a real risk) but rather that research shows that a) violence to one member of a family is very often a characteristic of violence generally, and b), the emotional effects of exposure to domestic abuse is fear for the child and the child’s fear for others (usually the mother as victim) and is cumulatively serious. Attachment and neurological research shows that it is this fear which, if unabated and not addressed, will have significant long term effects on not only the emotional health of the child, but probably in ALL areas of healthy development. Studies show that this takes between 3 and 7 years before it manifests as behaviour and symptomology which can amount to significant harm by which time it is often marked, serious and “too late” for much in the way of traditional family support intervention. Implications for intervention (affecting all work with children) also directly result from S53 of the Children Act 2004 which modifies S17, S20 and S47 and now legally requires that the wishes and feelings of any children involved be “ascertained”. Most social work and multi-agency staff mistakenly believe that “ascertain” means: “to find out”. Unfortunately, the legal meaning of the term is much stronger – it means to find out and make sure you have found out. Children are reluctant to disclose. Why should they speak to strangers? Even more so, if you are an older child when you know that “spilling the beans” might mean you are removed from your family. How are wishes and feelings to be ascertained? Research on behalf of the Government by Steve Walker and Hedy Cleaver shows that the average Core Assessment worker spends just two hours talking to the children. It is highly questionable as to whether this small amount of time constitutes a period amounting to “ascertaining” by any stretch of the imagination but we often have to do simply what we can in the limited time available. The evidencing of domestic abuse and its effects requires that workers develop extensive knowledge of emotional harm and how this is evidenced. This points to the desirability of knowledge of Attachment Theory and current neurological research. Other issues for intervention relate to what can be done. Sometimes the response is simply to “encourage the mother to leave” or offer legal assistance through Family Law or Section 8 of the Children Act. Not only is this often totally unrealistic but it also flies in the face of virtually all the research on domestic violence. The average period of time before a woman leaves a violent relationship is 8 years. Further, there are usually more than twenty efforts at leaving before any successful parting. Again, this has practice and policy ramifications. It is very easy to slip into an aggressive “punishing” stance on the mother where child protection is used to “force” separation. This may badly backfire in some cases. However, it should be recognised that the child's safety must always remain paramount. Learning Objectives: By the end of this training, participants will have developed their knowledge in:
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OSIRIS: Lighting the Way Forward
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