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The past year maltreatment rates for children under age 18 were 7-17 times greater than official rates of substantiated child maltreatment in the UK. Professionals working with children and young people in all settings should be alert to the overlapping and age-related differences in experiences of childhood victimization to better identify child maltreatment and prevent the accumulative impact of different victimizations upon children's mental health.

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Despite almost 30 years of research into and activism against violence against women, little has been written about mothering in the context of abuse, whether from the viewpoint of women's experiences, of children's experiences, or on the basis of reviews of social policy and academic discourse.In this chapter, we aim to begin filling this gap in the research literature.We write as feminist sociologists rather than as psychologists and start from the premise that the social, historical, cultural, and political contexts in which thinking about violence, the family, and mothering is positioned has a profound influence on policy responses to women and children surviving abuse.Policy, practice, and ideologies dominant in the United Kingdom and the United States differ in several respects (Dobash & Dobash, 1992). We start this chapter by charting recent changes in policy and programs in the United Kingdom, in particular. We next review trends in the research literature and look at how the growth of research on children and domestic violence has influenced thinking about mothering. We argue that important questions about what might be effective social support for women as mothers and children living through domestic violence have not been adequately considered within the research. In the final sections of the chapter, we outline three areas in which further research on social support for abused women as mothers would be particularly worthwhile: (a) research that explores women's coping and caring strategies when mothering in the context of domestic violence; (b) research that looks at the effectiveness of social support, taking into account the cultural context in which social support is received and how race, culture, poverty, and wealth may influence 135

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The hidden nature of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is well established. Globally, its prevalence is difficult to ascertain, but international legal frameworks and existing studies recognise that DVA is experienced directly by children and young people in the home or within their own intimate partner relationships. In 2013, UK policy transformed teenagers into primary service users of DVA refuges. This study examines teenagers' educational experiences over the period of their refuge stay and whether refuges responded effectively to their educational needs. Twenty refuges in England assisted with the study. Individual interviews with 25 staff members explored their perceptions of teenagers' experiences. Repeat interviews with 20 teenagers were undertaken over the period of their refuge stay. The voices of teenagers are prioritised in this paper; four teenagers contributed to study design and three assisted with data analysis. A thematic approach was taken to analyse the data. Teenagers described various educational difficulties associated with adolescence and refuge life. Major themes included the disruption of education and a lack of resources to support educational achievement. Education can contribute to the resilience of teenagers who have experienced DVA. Refuges and schools should work collaboratively to build a co‐ordinated response. Key Practitioner Messages Refuge staff working with teenagers need to identify and prioritise their educational needs. Refuges and schools need to collaborate to improve access to educational support and resources for teenagers in refuges. Where schooling is interrupted, teenagers should be provided with appropriate alternative resources. The co‐ordinated educational support provided to looked‐after children should be considered as a model for teenagers in refuges.

This article considers the role of feminist community activism and academic research in the context of contemporary crime reduction policy. We draw upon experiences and knowledge gained from our involvement in comprehensive evaluation studies of community responses to domestic violence against women (in two areas of the South East of England) completed in 1996 and in 2004, before and after the present government's crime reduction initiatives. We consider the perils and prospects for academic 'experts' and feminist activists, of the increased emphasis on 'what works' in crime reduction, and the development of new technologies of control, especially in the areas of risk management and performance and monitoring.

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