Abstract

Based on the first-hand accounts of children and their mothers regarding their experiences of both domestic violence and support services, this is the first book to examine children's experiences of a range of service provision in response to domestic violence. It seeks to encourage a more effective and professional approach in the services that aim to support and protect children, highlighting both the strengths and the shortcomings of existing professional interventions and illustrating the range of problems that children face when they are living with domestic violence.

Drawing on a unique, three-year research project into domestic violence and the support and protection of children, the book explores:

* the types of violence experienced by mothers and witnessed by children

* the types of abuse children are subjected to

* children's understanding of domestic violence

* children's and mothers' views of how best to protect children and their perception of the support services

* the barriers for children and mothers to seeking help.

The book assesses the role and response of the social services, police, refuge staff, solicitors and barristers, voluntary organisations and the agencies of health, education and housing. It describes approaches to existing problems, emphasising the importance of a child-focused response and concludes by recommending improvements for policy and practice.

The book assesses the role and response of the social services, police, refuge staff, solicitors and barristers, voluntary agencies and the agencies of health, education and housing. This book is essential reading for anyone who needs to understand the effects of domestic violence on children – particularly those who are responsible for providing of funding services for children who have experienced domestic violence.
childRIGHT
This book will appeal to anyone who needs ton understand the effects of domestic violence on children. It will prove informative for policy makers, professionals and practitioners in the field of health and social care. Within academia, researchers, educators, and students alike will find this book accessible and thought provoking exploration into the consequences for children, which underscore the urgency of conveying the message that domestic violence is unacceptable.
Journal of Interpersonal Care
Childhood Experience of Domestic Violence is a helpful and readable text, particularly for those who wish to have a clearly explained overview of domestic violence. The text would be a useful introduction to the subject and could, perhaps, be offered as essential reading for anyone starting out in the helping professions. The book sets out to offer an understanding of the impact of domestic violence on children, making it clear that the evidence offered is not solely from children directly but also uses carers and professionals to assess the effect on children.
Journal of Social Work
…a valuable resource for those whose work brings them into contact with those children. The author both raises the reader's awareness of the range of feelings and experiences of these children and draws attention to the kinds of interventions that are likely to be helpful and those that are not.
Seen & Heard
An engrossing and moving account of what it means to live with domestic violence and it is particularly important in that it gives young people a voice. In its `Foreword' the book is described as “essential reading for those who need to understand the effects of domestic violence on children – particularly those who are responsible for providing or funding services for children who have experienced domestic violence”. This is undoubtedly so. In addition, it will prove to be of enormous interest to students of family policy and of family law.
Child and Family Law Quarterly
This book is based on the first-hand accounts of 54 children and 48 mothers, throughout England and Wales, regarding their experiences of both domestic violence and support services…The book makes extensive use of direct quotations from the children and their mothers... The book is ideal for practitioners newly involved in the domestic violence field, providing insight into the experiences of children.
Child Abuse Review
The report is well written and covers an excellent breadth of knowledge; a broad range of topics and subject headings enables the reader to locate specific examples and explanations, including examples of experiences and care received from A&E services. The text encourages the need for good communication with the patient, the multidisciplinary team and voluntary support agencies. It allows the reader to have a better understanding of the dynamic of domestic violence, especially its influence upon the children involved, thereby placing the A&E nurse in a position of empowering the patient.
Accident and Emergency Nursing
Childhood Experiences of Domestic Violence challenges us to examine what we do and how we do it in our work with children and where domestic violence has taken place. This is a very readable book providing insight into the worlds of victims and a background on which to reflect our practice.
Rostrum (The Voice of Social Work in Scotland)
Based on a 3 year research project and using first hand accounts, it explores the wide spectrum of domestic violence, its impact, agency responses and barriers to seeking and using help. The book conveys children's awareness of domestic violence taking place, their difficulty in disclosing what is happening and the importance of enabling them to communicate. By giving women and children a voice, the research captures the essence of what it is like to have “no safe place” and the emotional essence of isolation, stigma, fear and powerlessness… The desperate coping strategies developed by the children underline the overlapping nature of different kinds of child abuse and the continuing importance of breaking the silence about all forms of violence. It is essential reading for any professional or volunteer whose remit covers the welfare of women and children, including lawyers and judges, and affirming reading for survivors of domestic violence themselves.
Community Care
The book is ideal for practitioners newly involved in the domestic violence field, providing insight into the experiences of children…
Child Abuse Review
Caroline McGee is a Research Officer with the NSPCC Child Protection Research Group. Her main research interests are violence against women and children, surviving trauma and involving children in research. She is currently completing a PhD in Psychology on the survival strategies of women in rape situations, at Birkbeck College, University of London.