Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Child welfare and domestic violence: tackling the themes and thorny questions that stand in the way of collaboration and improvement of child welfare practice
Other Titles:	Violence against women
Authors:	Mandel, David
Keywords:	Parenting;Child protection;Service provision
Year:	2010
Publisher:	Sage Publications
Citation:	16 (5), May 2010
Notes:	Heather Douglas and Tamara Walsh in their article “Mothers, Domestic Violence and Child Protection” do an excellent job giving voice to the concerns of battered women’s advocates about child protection’s response to domestic violence. They identify crucial themes in the critique of child welfare’s response such as mother blaming, failure to hold batterers accountable, and battered women’s fear of child protection. Expanding on the perceptions of their focus groups of community workers, Douglas and Walsh make a strong case for the need for greater understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence by child protection workers. Based on my years working with child protection to improve their response to domestic violence, I strongly agree with many of these points and support their articulation. Much of my work using the Safe and Together model has been about creating sustainable changes in child welfare practice. Battered women and their children need us to move from our critiques of child welfare to new, collaborative approaches to cross-system dialogue and improved practice. Based on my experience, the next step is to integrate domestic violence expertise and knowledge into the mission and task of child welfare workers. When child welfare workers utilize the knowledge of advocates, batterer intervention providers, and domestic violence researchers in their daily practice, we will have taken a significant step forward. [?2010 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. For further information, visit SAGE Publications link.]
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/13802
ISSN:	1077-8012
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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