Numerous children around the world are forced to make multiple moves with their mothers in and out of refuges for abused women. Each time, they experience a sudden upheaval of their familiar environment. For these children, domestic violence and flight from violence is not an isolated event but part of their upbringing. Few statistics and little…

Shelter-recruited adolescents are known to have high rates of substance abuse and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Many studies have documented these mental health concerns, but only a small number of studies have tested interventions that may be useful for ameliorating these vulnerabilities. The current study…

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…

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…

In this qualitative, ethnographic case study, I examine two Thai NGO shelters/schools working with human trafficking survivors and at-risk populations of children ages 5-18. The two NGOs had a residential component, meaning that children live at the shelter, and an educational component, meaning that children are taught academic and vocational…

Few studies have examined the adjustment of battered women and their children after exiting domestic violence shelters. Participants were 62 women who had endured severe partner abuse, completed a shelter program with their children, and resided in the community for at least 6 months. Field interviews concerned mothers' and children's abuse…

While research on emergent literacy development provides a comprehensive picture of the factors that are conducive to children's early literacy development, environments of young preschool children living in overnight and residential shelters have not been investigated from an emergent literacy perspective. Results of my comprehensive study on the…