Children experiencing physical abuse by their parents are left with several difficult decisions. The present study aims at exploring the process of disclosing the abuse and the responses from social welfare workers from a child perspective, in a Swedish context. Data was obtained from in depth interviews with 15 children with a history of child…

For over 30 years, children have been accompanying their mothers to women's refuges. We now know that these children are at risk of developing an array of behavioural and psychological difficulties. We also know the importance for children of keeping active and playing while at the refuge, and to be given the possibility of addressing and dealing…

Divorce or separation is one route towards addressing high conflict in marriages and may be a key route out of situations of significant domestic violence for women and children. However, divorce has been associated with feminisation of poverty and other negative outcomes which can be further exacerbated for victimised women. While there has been…

Drawing on a three-year Irish research study, this paper focuses on the decision-making process in child contact, specifically the assessment and management of risk of continuing abuse to young people previously exposed to domestic abuse. A mixed methodological approach involved the completion of survey questionnaires by 219 mothers and the…

As part of a larger qualitative study using Life Story methods, an ethnically diverse, purposive sample (n = 27) of young adolescents (ages 12-14) and their mothers residing in four US domestic violence emergency shelters were interviewed about their perspectives of shelter life. Youth reported aspects they liked, most often expressing that they…

Until relatively recently, the focus of research, policy and intervention responses to abuse and violence within families has been almost exclusively on the behaviour of adults rather than on the violence within families carried out by children and adolescents. As a consequence, the aggressive and violent behaviour of children and adolescents at…

Research consistently shows that addressing diverse families' needs early in life will reduce risks and increase protective factors surrounding the complexities of families' lives. For decades, prevention and early intervention has been described in many forms, from child centred and client centred to family centred and family focused, yet all…