Child Abuse Review Vol.

10: 183–197 (2001)

DOI: 10.1002/car.686

Domestic Violence Catherine

and Child Abuse: Humphreys*
Audrey Mullender
Developing Pam Lowe
Centre for the Study of Safety and
Well-Being

Sensitive Policies University of Warwick

Gill Hague
and Guidance Hilary Abrahams
Domestic Violence Research Group
University of Bristol

Domestic violence is everywhere and nowhere. No statutory

Marianne Hester
International Centre for the Study
organization or health service has work with either perpetrators or of Violence and Abuse
survivors of domestic violence (usually women and children) as the University of Sunderland
primary focus of their service, yet all agencies will have very significant
numbers among their clients/service users. It is therefore crucial that
the policy framework is developed both within and between agencies to
address the need, and scope, of intervention in this area and
particularly the impact on children. Currently, significant steps have
been taken by some agencies in the UK to address this previously
neglected issue, though the developments are patchy. This paper
draws on a UK-wide research study which mapped the extent and
‘Mapped the extent
range of service provision for families where there is domestic violence and range of
and also developed a framework of good practice indicators for
provision in this area. This article examines one of the indicators of service provision
good practice arising from the research—that of policy for families where
development—within social service departments and within the
multi-agency arena. Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. there is domestic
violence and also
KEY WORDS: domestic violence; child abuse; policy development; good
practice indicators developed a
framework of good
practice indicators’
orkers in the UK child care sector are currently reel-
W ing from the impact of major changes and workforce
pressures. Responding to the Quality Protects agenda, absorb-
ing the new assessment framework (Department of Health,
2000) and struggling with the expectation to refocus services
to provide a better balance between family support and child
protection are all currently demanded of social workers and
their managers.
Moreover, rising to the demands of SSI inspections and
joint reviews, attending to the implications of the McPherson

ŁCorrespondence to: Dr C. Humphreys, School of Health and Social Studies,

University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. Tel: 024 76524922. Fax: 024
76524414. E-mail: C.F.Humphreys@warwick.ac.uk
Contract/grant sponsor: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 23 April 2001
184 C. Humphreys et al.

report and coping with constant restructuring bring further

changes and pressures. Government preoccupation with
performance indicators and the ‘blame culture’ in the media
provide little respite for hard-pressed workers, particularly in
the context of a recruitment crisis.
This paper argues that domestic violence is a central
issue for statutory child care work. However, if it is seen
as yet another new and separate issue to ‘take on board’,
then it will not be surprising if it remains a low priority.
Instead, the issues associated with domestic violence need
to be reframed and integrated within the Government’s
‘Refocusing new child care agenda: refocusing services to emphasize
services to family support is a strategy strongly advocated by Women’s
Aid and children’s charities; approximately two–thirds of
emphasize family ‘looked after’ children, the focus of several performance
support is a targets in the Quality Protects programme, come from
strategy strongly homes where domestic violence is a reality in their lives
(Farmer and Pollock, 1998); the new assessment framework
advocated by
includes questions about domestic violence; and Working
Women’s Aid and Together (Sections 2.21 and 6.38, Department of Health/
children’s Home Office/ Department of Education and Employment,
charities’ 1999) now provides clear guidance on domestic violence
intervention. Since this requires the rewriting of ACPC
guidelines, they present an opportunity to include domestic
violence within the framework of interagency child protection
responses.

Domestic Violence and Child Abuse

The complex links between domestic violence (particularly
violence towards women by their partners or ex-partners)
and child abuse have now been identified in a range of
research studies and overviews (Abrahams, 1994; Edleson,
1999; Hester et al., 2000). Studies show that the majority of
‘The majority of children living in situations of domestic violence witness the
children living in incidents of violence (Mullender et al., 2000). They are also
situations of much more vulnerable to being directly physically abused
either by becoming caught in the attack upon their mothers
domestic violence (very occasionally their fathers) or by being abused in separate
witness the incidents in which the abuser uses physical assault not only to
incidents of control his partner but also the children in the household (see
Edleson, 1999). There is also some evidence that children
violence’ are at increased risk of physical abuse from their mothers who
are themselves the subject of abuse (O’Keefe, 1995). The
prevalence of domestic violence in child sexual abuse cases is
now also coming to light (Farmer and Pollock, 1998; Hester
and Pearson, 1998), along with concerns about assaults

Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 10: 183–197 (2001)
 Domestic Violence and Child Abuse 185

on pregnant women, which constitute an attack on both the

child in utero and the mother (Mezey and Bewley, 1997). The ‘The flow-on effects
flow-on effects of domestic violence add to the complexity of domestic
of the issue. Mothers may become disabled during physical
attacks and are also increasingly vulnerable to mental health
violence add to the
problems through sustained violence and abuse. Clearly these complexity of the
issues may affect the quality of care available to children living issue’
with domestic violence.
The development of sensitive practice in statutory child
care agencies and in the multi-agency context to respond
to these links between child abuse and domestic violence
have not been straightforward. Criticism has been directed,
for instance, at social work practice in a number of areas.
These include: the tendency to focus on the woman’s ‘failure
to protect’, rather than appropriately challenging the man’s
violence (Milner, 1993; Lloyd, 1995); the slippage towards
emphasis on other problems such as mental ill-health or
alcohol misuse, so that domestic violence becomes invisible
as an interconnected or coexisting issue (Humphreys, 2000);
the lack of attention to the specific difficulties which
black women and other minority communities may have in
accessing help (Mama, 1996); and minimizing the damaging
effects on children of witnessing domestic violence (Brandon
and Lewis, 1996). Even the fundamental connection between
the abuse of children and the abuse of women is consistently
overlooked in a large proportion of cases (Hester and
Pearson, 1998).
It is, of course, all too easy to focus on the shortcomings of
front-line social work practice. It is more fruitful to explore
in more detail the obstacles to improvement and to search
out best practice in order to learn how such obstacles can
be overcome. It is arguably not surprising that policy has ‘It is arguably not
not kept up with practice imperatives. The consistency surprising that
with which child abuse has been separated from woman policy has not kept
abuse has been an issue since the inception of child welfare
practice (Gordon, 1988). There are entrenched structural up with practice
and organizational barriers which have tended to mitigate imperatives’
against the development of more sensitive and effective
statutory intervention in this area.
Organizational obstacles can include:
ž The separation of services and assessments for children
from services for adults
ž The incident-focused nature of child protection, which often
ignores the wider context in which that abuse occurs
ž The lack of effective legal and educative/therapeutic inter-
vention for domestic violence offenders
ž The lack of support services for domestic violence survivors
(usually women and children)

Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 10: 183–197 (2001)
186 C. Humphreys et al.

ž Resource flows which only prioritize the most serious cases,

routing families inappropriately into the child protection
process as a means of gaining essential resources
ž A lack of policy guidance for workers in the area

(Humphreys and Mullender in Horwath and Shardlow (eds),

Making Links: Assessment and Roles Across Social Work
Specialisms, forthcoming)

While the barriers can seem insurmountable, in fact many

areas are now making concerted attempts to overcome
them. This paper will focus upon one facet of this work:
‘The development the development of appropriate domestic violence policies
of appropriate both within social service departments and within the multi-
agency arena. A research project commissioned by the Joseph
domestic violence Rowntree Foundation (Humphreys et al., 2000) provides the
policies both within data for this discussion.
social service
departments and Methodology
within the
The research project set out to map the extent and
multi-agency range of service provision across the UK in work with
arena’ families where there is domestic violence, and to develop
a framework of good practice indicators for provision in
this area.
To this end, a team of researchers from the Universities
of Bristol (Domestic Violence Research Group), Warwick
(Centre for the Study of Safety and Well-Being) and
Sunderland (International Centre for the Study of Violence
and Abuse) collaborated with Women’s Aid Federations
‘Collaborated with
across the UK, and with four major children’s charities
Women’s Aid (Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society, NCH Action for
Federations across Children and the NSPCC) to map domestic violence
the UK, and with service provision within their organizations. The Department
of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR)
four major provided access to their concurrent survey of English
children’s charities’ refuge provision, and the team worked with the Child
and Woman Abuse Studies Unit in North London to
map the provision of perpetrator programmes. Mapping
surveys of services provided by social service departments
in England and Wales and health and social service trusts
in Northern Ireland were conducted, and similar research in
Scotland was drawn upon (Henderson, 1997) to provide
an overall picture of developments within the statutory
sector.
A total of 915 responses were obtained through question-
naires from all sectors. Return rates were as follows: Women’s
Aid and other refuges 98% (N D 326); social services

Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 10: 183–197 (2001)
 Domestic Violence and Child Abuse 187

departments and Northern Ireland health and social ser-

vice trusts 62% (N D 114); four children’s charities 59.5%
(N D 449); perpetrator groups 73% (N D 26). The high ‘The high return
return rates provided a sound foundation for the evidence rates provided a
base of the study. Many questionnaires also had policy
documents attached. While the focus of the questionnaire
sound foundation
was service provision, questions were also asked about pol- for the evidence
icy development, training and attendance at multi-agency base of the study’
forums. Seven case study visits were undertaken around
the UK where elements of innovative practice had been
identified by participant organizations which appeared likely
to help draw out more of the detail of effective and inte-
grated responses. The combination of quantitative data and
documentary analysis of policy documents attached to the
questionnaire return provides the basis for the discussion in
this paper, with the case studies supplementing some of the
practice examples.
From an analysis of the mapping questionnaires and
the case studies, discussed at length between the advi-
sory group and the research team, eight ‘good practice
indicators’ with a series of sub-indicators were devel- ‘Eight ‘good
oped. They apply to all organizations working in the practice indicators’
field of domestic violence. In the case of perpetrator with a series of
programmes, they should be used in conjunction with
the more detailed policy guidelines for minimum stan- sub-indicators
dards for best practice developed by the national network were developed’
of practitioners engaged in this work (Respect, 2001).
The framework of indicators developed from this research
encompasses:

ž An agreed definition
ž Monitoring and screening
ž The development of policy
ž Safety measures and planning
ž Training
ž Evaluation
ž A multi-agency strategy
ž Detailed guidelines for the development of practice with
domestic violence survivors (usually women and children.
The final report for the research project (Humphreys et al.,
2000) includes a more detailed discussion of each of the
good practice indicators) ‘Policy
development
Since policy development provides the framework for all
the other indicators, it has been selected as the sole focus provides the
of this paper. The detailed quantitative and documentary framework for all
analyses will be used to convey the extent of progress in the other
writing policies and guidelines and in working these through
in practice. indicators’

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188 C. Humphreys et al.

The Broad Picture

An overview of domestic violence policy development shows

that fewer than half (45.6%) of the social services and social
work departments and equivalent joint health and social
service trusts in Northern Ireland who responded to the
questionnaire had policies in place, though a further 15%
said that they were in the process of developing them. An
analysis of policy documents showed that many of these
were general guidelines for the wider interagency strategy,
rather than specific policies which would be capable of
guiding practice within social services departments. While
general interagency domestic violence guidelines are essential
for setting a framework for professional responses in an
area, each agency then needs to develop its own specific
guidance to staff. For example, statutory children and families
teams need specific guidelines on assessment, screening and
recording, relevant legislation, confidentiality in relation to
child protection conferences, referral processes, and so on. It
was this detail which tended to be missing.
Perhaps this patchiness in policy development is not
‘Many areas (47%) surprising when many areas (47%) do not have a designated
do not have a member of staff responsible for the oversight of domestic
violence work. Where there were designated staff, 12% of
designated member these had no work relief associated with the position.
of staff responsible Similarly, while each of the children’s charities had
for the oversight of substantial practice guidelines in place nationally, these had
not yet been adopted by many of their regional projects (only
domestic violence
15.6% had local guidelines). As would be expected, local
work’ Women’s Aid organizations, as the specialist service in this
area, all had policies and guidelines. (See Table 1.)

Guidelines on Policy Development

While good practice is generally indicated by organizations

having developed a policy on domestic violence to guide the

Table 1. UK domestic violence policy guidelines

Domestic violence guidelines

Yes No Being Developed Total
No. % No. % No. % No. %

Statutory sector1 45 39.4 52 45.6 17 15 114 100

Children’s charities 70 15.6 379 84.4 — — 449 100
Women’s Aid 326 100 — — — — 326 100

1 This covers social service departments in England and Wales and Northern Ireland health and social service
trusts. Source: Humphreys et al., (2000)

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 Domestic Violence and Child Abuse 189

work of managers and their staff, it became clear during the

study that some policies are more sensitive to the needs of
domestic violence survivors than others, particularly when the
safety and well-being of survivors is taken as an overarching
principle.
At worst, a ‘cover your back’ letter had been developed ‘At worst, a ‘cover
by at least eight social services departments as part of their your back’ letter
policy in this area. (Numbers are difficult to ascertain in had been developed
this area, as policy initiatives such as this change rapidly
and not all areas would have placed this enclosure within by at least eight
their attached policy documents.) Such letters, written by social services
social workers to the parents in a household where there departments’
is domestic violence, warn that the family has come to the
notice of social services and, while often ‘offering support’,
may also point out that domestic violence is a form of
child abuse. Such a response tends to confirm all the worst
stereotypes of the ineffectiveness of social work practice in
this area. It fails to differentiate between domestic violence
offenders and their victims, and proposes monitoring and
surveillance rather than effective help. It plays into the
woman’s worst fears, often encouraged by the offender,
that the children will be taken into care. The commonly
held belief that the woman’s needs and safety are not of
importance in their own right is confirmed, and her isolation
through potentially closing down an avenue of help-seeking is
increased. The letter may show on the file that ‘some action’
has been taken in response to a referral. However, this gives
a wholly false impression as far as the safety of women
and children involved is concerned, let alone engaging with
the perpetrator as part of the family, yet as threatening its
viability.
On the other hand, an overview of the policy doc-
uments afforded by the research highlighted a range of
elements that did give attention both to safety of women
survivors and their children. The best of these also ‘The best of these
highlighted diversity and outlined strategies for embed-
also highlighted
ding domestic violence intervention in the agency con-
cerned. These aspects were identified by the research diversity and
team as important sub-indicators within the more gen- outlined strategies
eral domestic violence good practice indicator of devel- for embedding
oping policies and guidance. The sub-indicators were as
follows: domestic violence
intervention in the
(a) Attention to the Issues of Safety and Confidentiality agency concerned’

Most policies affirm a commitment to safety and confidential-

ity for survivors of domestic violence. However, guidelines

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190 C. Humphreys et al.

may sometimes undermine this principle. Hence, it is the

‘Good practice is details that matter and good practice is indicated by policies
indicated by that give specific guidance on these issues.
policies that give For example, the Cheshire County Council guidelines
stress the need to give a woman in a situation of violence
specific guidance’ attention in her own right, as well as informing her
clearly about the boundaries of confidentiality, and finding
out how she might be safely contacted. Others (e.g.
Gloucestershire County Council) specify the need to gain
the clear permission of the woman before onward referral
to support agencies, while Birmingham Social Services
and West Midlands Police have given a lead for other
areas with the development of a specific protocol for
children on the child protection register (Douch and Ross,
1998). Newham Social Services and Inter-Agency Forum
there have now developed a common referral form for all
agencies in the area and a process for central monitoring
of all referrals using initials and birth date. Good practice
of this kind may become more widespread since Home
‘Home Office-funded domestic violence projects under the Crime
Office-funded Reduction Programme are required to collect data on
domestic violence domestic violence incidents and referrals across all the
agencies involved.
projects under the A further useful feature of many policies are specific
Crime Reduction guidelines to front-line practitioners with a range of ‘dos’
Programme are and ‘don’ts’ prioritizing the safety of women and children
(e.g. London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, 1995).
required to collect NCH Action for Children provides a comprehensive list
data on domestic of practice implications to guide workers in the following
violence’ areas: child protection issues; contact with fathers; responses
to violent men; responses to women who are experiencing
domestic violence; and responses to children (NCH Action
for Children, 1997).
It is increasingly recognized in many policies that effective
child protection is most often provided through ensuring
the safety and protection of the child’s mother from
violence (London Borough of Hackney, 1993). This is
not to suggest that children’s needs are identical with
those of their mothers, or that mothers are never abusive,
but rather that closely linked policies and intervention
for both are required so that such complexities can be
properly considered in an integrated way. Newham Social
Services has tackled this issue by resourcing a domestic
violence intervention team which consults with children
and families’ workers while having a specific remit to
provide support, information and advocacy for the adult
survivor.

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 Domestic Violence and Child Abuse 191

(b) Involvement of Survivors of Domestic Violence and

Their Representatives in Refuge and Advocacy
Services
Mistakes about safe policies are less likely to occur if primary
users of domestic violence services and their representatives
are consulted. A good example is the development of the
multi-agency strategy in Fife. This began with a consultation
with women who had experienced domestic violence, asking
them particularly about their experiences of help-seeking.
The strategy’s springboard for action built on this base,
alongside participation and consultation with young people
(Reid-Howie Associates, 1996).
The processes for undertaking service user consultation
and review are not straightforward when policies are often ‘Policies are often
written at senior level. Some areas recognize Women’s Aid written at senior
representatives on forums as providing expertise and access level’
to the direct views of women and children in situations
of domestic violence. However, full participation tends to
require intensive effort and, ideally, dedicated resources
(Mullender and Hague, 2000). One of many good practice
examples was provided by Milton Keynes Women’s Aid.
They facilitated a half-day discussion with women in the
refuge about changes to police policy in the area which
among other initiatives would have involved sending a joint
letter to households. The women’s views, which in this case
challenged the direction of the policy, were then fed back to
the police and to the Domestic Violence Working Party via
the Women’s Aid representative.

(c) Attention to Diversity and Equality

The attention to diversity and equality within some policies ‘Attention to
has been carefully thought through and stands as a clear diversity and
indicator of good practice (Doncaster Domestic Violence equality within
Working Party, 1997; London Borough of Hammersmith
and Fulham, 1998; Leeds City Council Department of Social some policies has
Services, undated; London Borough of Newham, 1993/96). been carefully
These policies show some or all of the following features: a thought through’
clear and unequivocal general statement about commitments
to equality and diversity; a detailed statement within the
policy about the particular needs of, and access issues for,
black women, disabled women and other groups who face
specific barriers to gaining help when in situations of domestic
violence; strategies for user involvement and for monitoring
and reviewing commitments to specialized service provision;
and training which embeds the diversity policy in a context

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192 C. Humphreys et al.

which will make a difference to the lives of the women and

children affected.

(d) Integration into a Wider Strategy

Surprisingly, a significant number of statutory sector depart-
ments (70%) appeared to be developing guidelines outside a
wider domestic violence strategy. This suggests that, although
an encouraging number of departments now have a represen-
tative who attends multi-agency forums (90%), the agency
policy may not be written by this person, or, alternatively, may
not be incorporated into the work of the forum concerned. An
‘An indicator of indicator of good practice is where the development of policy
good practice is and guidelines forms part of a wider strategy, within both the
where the organization and the wider interagency setting (Hague et al.,
1996). The most recent Government multi-agency guidance
development of (Home Office, 2000) recommends that domestic violence
policy and fora and the ACPC contribute jointly to the development of
guidelines forms Children’s Services Plans. This ensures coordination rather
than fragmentation or overlap.
part of a wider
strategy’
(e) Development of a Broad Range of Policies,
Guidelines and Clarity in the Referral System
It is clear that effective work in this area requires a broad range
of policies. Currently, domestic violence is both ‘everywhere
and nowhere’, with no agency other than Women’s Aid
having abused women and their children as the primary
‘Domestic violence focus of its services. Hence, domestic violence is insufficiently
is insufficiently visible within most services, with access to assistance often
visible within most dependent upon other criteria (for example mental health
problems or child abuse). Pryke and Thomas (1998) have
services’ suggested that local authorities need policies to cover the
following areas:

ž Children and families (including drawing up guidelines which

differentiate policies for children in need and policies for
child protection)
ž Vulnerable adults (which may be incorporated into a wider
policy statement on community care)
ž Violent men or perpetrators (including policies for staff safety
procedures and policies and guidelines for investigation
and assessment of, and intervention with, perpetrators of
violence towards women)

Policies also need to include:

ž Information for service users (covering the services available,

eligibility for services, relevant powers and duties of a

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 Domestic Violence and Child Abuse 193

department, service user responsibilities and complaints

procedures)
ž Practice guidelines for front-line workers

These policies need to be congruent with those developed ‘These policies need
by other departments on matters such as housing, education, to be congruent
youth work, policing and community development, and with those
particularly address the interconnections between adult and
children’s services. Good practice is indicated by areas and developed by other
organizations which have given attention to the broad scope departments’
of policy development.

(f) Build on Policies Which Have Already Been Well

Developed in Other Areas
A criticism which is sometimes levelled at interagency forums
is that they are ‘talking-shops’ where lengthy discussion
about policy has taken precedence over the development of
increased provision for survivors or perpetrators of violence
(Hague et al., 1996). Given that some areas have at least a 10-
year history of work in this field, there is no reason for each
to reinvent the wheel by developing policies from scratch. ‘There are
While this advice contains within it some hazards, there are examples of strong
examples of strong policies (ones that have informed the policies which have
development of these good practice indicators) which have
been thoughtfully developed from a depth of experience of been thoughtfully
working with domestic violence. However, these policies need developed’
to be developed, ‘owned’ and adapted to suit the particular
organizational or interagency context of any body which seeks
to emulate them.

(g) Detailed Guidelines

Improved practice is often impeded by the lack of detailed
thinking by managers about the barriers that have created
insensitive or unskilled work in the past. While too much
procedural detail can constrain professional discretion, it
was clear from our analysis of policies and guidelines that
detail was often an indication of a well thought through ‘Detail was often an
and pragmatic policy which would be more likely to ensure indication of a well
change in the direction required and tackle the barriers to thought through
making that shift.
Within children and families teams, for example, consid- and pragmatic
eration needs to be given to: how retrospective recording of policy’
information about domestic violence will occur on comput-
ers; issues for assessment where domestic violence is revealed;
immediate safety measures; meshing with the child protection

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194 C. Humphreys et al.

procedures, including guidance on child protection confer-

ences where parents may need to be involved separately; staff
care and safety; clarity about referral, assessment and resourc-
ing when adult problems (including domestic violence) occur
alongside, and impact upon, child abuse. Guidance is also
needed on circumstances where a child protection enquiry
under Section 47 of the Children Act (1989) may be rec-
ommended (Newham Social Services, 2000; Coventry City
Council, 2000).

(h) Policies Embedded Within the Organization

Policies remain empty rhetoric unless appropriate training,
‘Policies remain
supervision and resources are provided to integrate them into
empty rhetoric agency practice. Some organizations in the study showed
unless appropriate uneven development in this area, with a well-written policy
training, but no parallel training or implementation strategies.
The Gloucestershire Social Services Department Policy
supervision and on Domestic Violence (1999) provides an example of a
resources are comprehensive approach to policy development. As part of
provided’ this policy, all teams were to be provided with an information
and resource file to enable staff to develop good practice.
Targets on staff training, reorganizing the information and
referral system and reviewing the policy were all identified.
Some policies also require the development of services. For
example, a few areas had quite appropriately written policies
that drew distinctions between different thresholds of referral
for assessment and investigation to either the family support
team or the child protection team. However, in the survey,
the service provision for women and children in situations
‘Service provision of domestic violence in some of these areas was revealed
in some of these as minimal, thus raising the question of how the policy on
areas was revealed family support could possibly be resourced.
as minimal’
Work with Perpetrators

Few policy documents from the social services mapping gave

detailed guidance for work with, or referral processes for,
perpetrators of domestic violence. By contrast, the survey of
perpetrator programmes indicated that policy and practice
development is occurring, demonstrated by the national
Statement of Principles and Guidelines for Good Practice
(Respect, 2001). In the research, primary considerations
in the work with perpetrators included: parallel work with
women; building women’s accounts into evaluation; and
increasing the safety of women and children; alongside

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 Domestic Violence and Child Abuse 195

challenging and changing men’s attitudes to violence and

‘Challenging and
reducing the risk of reoffending.
All 19 of the programmes that responded to the ques- changing men’s
tionnaire sent a designated person to attend the domestic attitudes to violence
violence forum and six had a representative from the forum and reducing the
on their own management committee. The influence of these
interagency practice developments has yet to be evidenced in risk of reoffending’
most organizations’ policy documents on domestic violence
intervention. Nevertheless, the basis for this step has been
provided by the network of practitioners who have devel-
oped and written the detailed guidance for work in this area
(Respect, 2001).

Concluding Comments

In the past, domestic violence and its links with child abuse
have consistently been overlooked both in policy and practice.
The research reported here showed evidence that many
areas were beginning to tackle this lacuna, though such
developments are, as yet, patchy and sometimes superficial.
Effective policy development will only continue if the links to
recent Government policy agendas are recognized, alongside
acknowledgement of the extent to which domestic violence
permeates current caseloads.
Problems occur when the issue is simply ‘added in’ to cur- ‘Problems occur
rent incident-focused child care practice (Humphreys, 2000). when the issue is
This may only increase the attention on the mother’s ‘failure simply ‘added in’
to protect’, unless the more fundamental organizational and
policy changes occur. to current
Practice which is safer, more effective and sensitive to the incident-focused
needs of domestic violence survivors requires clear policy child care practice’
guidance within both the agency and interagency context.
Building on the framework of indicators, and specifically the
policy recommendations outlined in this paper, may be one
step along the way.

Acknowledgements

The research was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Founda-

tion. The views expressed are those of the authors and not
necessarily those of the Foundation.

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