Invisible Practices: Intervention with fathers who use violence; Key findings and future directions

Abstract

Historically, domestic and family violence (DFV) services have encouraged women to separate from partners who use violence. Child protection (CP) services have also expected women to leave violent partners for the sake of the children, in<br/ >spite of the potential danger of doing so, and the impoverishment that may result.<br/ ><br/ >However, the family law system has a "pro-contact culture" (Humphreys & Campo, 2017, p.5), and frequently rules that fathers should be involved with their children, even when they are known to use DFV. It is therefore not possible to assume that separation will mean that a father is out of the picture.<br/ ><br/ >Engaging with fathers who use violence gives workers the opportunity to gain a detailed understanding of men's patterns of violent behaviour, which can be valuable to inform risk assessments and safety planning. When services do not engage with fathers who use violence, more focus is placed<br/ >on mothers. This can result in mothers being held to account for failure to protect their children, rather than fathers being held responsible for exposing their children to harm. <br/ ><br/ >To date, it is generally the criminal justice system and specialist men's behaviour change programs (MBCPs) which have provided interventions with men who use violence. The received wisdom has been that specialist men-only interventions provide safer practice, with fewer risks to women and children who withstand the worst of violence and abuse (Laing, Humphreys & Cavanagh, 2013). However, only a minority of men who use violence attend MBCPs, and an even smaller number actually complete the program (Miller, Drake & Nafziger, 2013). Notably, too, these types of interventions do not focus on fathering issues.<br/ ><br/ >The Invisible Practices project was grounded in the belief that women and children living with DFV will be better supported by a model of working that involves the whole family (mother, father and children) (Humphreys & Campo, 2017; Mandel,<br/ >2014). Child protection and family services are well-positioned to engage with fathers who use violence. Indeed, such work is already happening; however, it is unclear what constitutes good practice, poor practice or dangerous practice. This area is<br/ >under-developed and undocumented, and practice is therefore largely invisible.