NCJ Number
224869
Date Published
2004
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This report provides good practice recommendations and suggestions for a range of practitioners and professionals who have a role in commissioning, developing, or delivering initiatives to support children who have in the past or are currently witnessing domestic violence.
Abstract
Both individual and group work with children living with domestic violence and its aftermath can help children understand what has happened to them and their mothers, to overcome the negative impact of living with abuse, and to move on in their lives. It can raise awareness, help children learn to keep safe, ensure that they feel less insolated and different, and help them feel better about themselves and more confident. What children see or hear when their mothers are being abused can not only include physical violence but also emotional abuse and put-downs, threats and intimidation, sexual jealousy and abuse. Children can be affected in many different ways by living with domestic violence. Children are likely to be affected by fear, disruption, and distress in their own lives. The aim of direct work with children is to enable them to cope appropriately with the abuse they heard or witnessed. Individual or ‘one-on-one’ work can be undertaken with children of any age by a professional who has been specifically trained to work with children who have witnessed domestic abuse. As well as undertaking work with children and work with women, there is scope, once women are through the worst of the violence; there is the need to think about working with them as mothers. Once domestic violence has been identified and disclosed, children may need direct support to help them cope and move on from what has or is happening. Throughout this article, good practice recommendations and suggestions are reviewed for both practitioners and professionals on both an individual and group level in support of children who witnessed domestic violence. References