Type:	Journal Article
Title:	The overlap between child maltreatment and woman battering
Other Titles:	Violence against women
Authors:	Edleson, Jeffrey L
Keywords:	Service provision;Child protection;Impact on children and young people;Drug and alcohol misuse
Year:	1999
Publisher:	Sage Publications
Citation:	5 (2), February 1999
Notes:	A brief VAWnet paper on this topic can be found at http://www.vawnet.org/DomesticViolence/Research/VAWnetDocs/AR_overlap.php. Describes how societal responses to abused children and battered women have developed separately. Reviews and summarises the studies providing data on the overlap between child maltreatment and domestic violence, the majority of which find a 30-60 percent overlap in non fatal child maltreatment. Notes that men are perpetrators of the most severe forms of child abuse and that domestic violence is often identified after the fact, where children have died. In one review of 67 child fatalities in families known to a child protection department, 29 (43%) were in families where the mother identified herself as a victim of domestic violence; and in 20 of these cases, the report of domestic violence was recorded with no further explanation or intervention; and in half the domestic violence cases, the mother had substance abuse problems. Numerous methodological issues are identified in the studies of the overlap of domestic violence and child abuse, including different definitions of abuse and spouse abuse, unrepresentative samples and reliance on a single source of information. Goes on to raise the implications of these findings for service delivery by women's refuges, child protection agencies and courts. Concludes by identifying the gaps in knowledge about how these forms of violence develop over time and how to help families where both are present. Cites literature from the US, UK and Australia.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/12561
ISSN:	1077-8012
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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