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Helping Children Thrive: Supporting Woman Abuse Survivors as Mothers

NCJ Number
209210
Author(s)
Linda L. Baker; Alison J. Cunningham
Date Published
2004
Length
78 pages
Annotation
This Canadian parenting guide offers parenting support to women abuse survivors.
Abstract
The guide is designed to assist women who are transitioning from abusive relationships and who are concerned about how violence may have affected their children. General parenting guidance is presented about children of all ages and specific advice is offered that targets families impacted by abuse. Roughly half of the guide is intended to provide information to service providers who work with women abuse survivors and their families, while other parts of the guide are designed specifically for women and their children. The guide can be used within a group therapy environment or within individual work with women and their children. The information designed for service providers offers tips on how to address the needs of abused women who are mothers and underscores the fact that safety is the highest priority and must be secured before parenting work can progress. Advice is also provided on how to work with different types of women, for example women in shelters, women who live in remote areas, and Aboriginal women. The guide outlines how violence typically affects children of different ages and discusses the roles children tend to assume when their mothers are the victims of woman abuse. The parts of the guide intended to be used directly by women abuse survivors explain how children and teenagers cope with violence in the family and offers advice on how to handle children who act out violently. The guide also reviews how woman abuse affects women as mothers. Forty-four of the pages within the guide may be photocopied and used as handouts. Additional resources and references that are easily accessible are provided; there is also a companion Web site that can be used in conjunction with the guide. References