NCJ Number
122302
Journal
Children Today Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: (March-April 1986) Pages: 1,6-11
Date Published
1986
Length
7 pages
Annotation
In 1981, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) funded six demonstration projects, each a shelter for battered women, to provide crisis intervention and remedies to children exposed to long-term violence, to identify community services and advocate for these children, and to develop programs to improve parenting techniques in violent families.
Abstract
As part of the collaborative research, the shelters assessed each child who entered during the reporting period, provided information on family income and problems, and attempted to obtain follow-up data. The children of women who came to shelters had not only witnessed violence directed at their mothers, but 70 percent had been victims of child abuse or neglect. The mother's batterer was usually also the child abuser, although the mothers did join in abusing their children in about 25 percent of the cases. However, only about 20 percent of the families were currently being helped by protective service agencies. The families had problems including poverty, social isolation, substance abuse, mental health problems, and previous court or prison experience. Many of the children exhibited chronic health and behavior problems associated with their violent environment. The intervention techniques used by the shelters included a structured daily activity program for the children, parent education, and advocacy services. Tentative follow-up findings indicate that the violence in these children's lives continued when their mothers returned to the batterers. One of the shelters reported that almost none of the children were still being abused and more than half had no more contact with the batterer. The study recommended the establishment of links between CPS workers and the shelters, the provision of medical screening and treatment to all children in shelters, the development of staff training programs to identify sexual abuse, and the provision of ongoing support to women who leave shelters with their children.