How Child Protection Workers Support or Further Victimize Battered Mothers

Abstract

This study explored battered mothers' perceptions of their interactions with child protectiv services (CPS) workers to increase understanding about how child welfare workers and pol cies can have negative as well as positive impacts on women's and children's lives. Th research was guided by two feminist frameworks: structured action theory and social entrap ment theory. Twenty women participated in the in-depth, qualitative interviews. Most felt mi understood and unsupported by their CPS workers and thought that this treatment directl harmed them and their children. Many batterers manipulated caseworkers and escaped sanc tions, which contributed to negative consequences. Some women received helpful response from their caseworkers and viewed such support as invaluable. Implications for social wor practice are discussed.

On n’est pas là pour régler le problème de violence conjugale, on est là pour protéger l’enfant

“…Ainsi, même si la catégorie « défaut de protéger » n'est pas inscrite dans la législation québécoise (Nixon et al, 2007), cette notion constitue un thème omniprésent dans l'ensemble des entrevues. Les réflexions des intervenants reflètent une vision « déficitaire » de la maternité dans un contexte de violence conjugale (Lapierre, 2008), ce qui risque de mener à des stratégies d'intervention qui sont perçues par les femmes comme étant punitives et qui contribuent à la méfiance générale qu'elles entretiennent à l'égard des professionnels (Johnson et Sullivan, 2008;Lapierre, 2010).…”

Re-visioning Child Protection Management Embedded in Family Empowerment

“…This section examines the concept of empowerment and describes its relevance for this research, which offered arguments for service development in terms of lived experiences of families (Harris, 2012;Johnson and Sullivan, 2008;Platt, 2008;Wiffin, 2010;Ivec, Braithwaite and Harris, 2012;Khan, 2015). Exploring the perspectives of the parents about their wellbeing and empowerment needs can reflect deeper insight and contribute to the discussion regarding the concept and process of their empowerment (Dumbrill, 2006;D'Cruz and Gillingham, 2014;Ghaffar et al, 2012).…”

“…Ghaffar et al (2012) and Bunting et al (2015) highlighted the parents' own experiences of developmental trauma, substance misuse, domestic violence as well as associated social stigma. Johnson and Sullivan (2008) and Ivec et al (2012) articulated the socio-cultural alienations and increasing risks of the ethnic minorities including the indigenous population of involving with the child protection services. So, the parents may likely to carry enormous socio-emotional burden as accumulated over a long period of time.…”

“…The outcome of changing approaches to risk management, which is empirically based due to evidence of reliability (rather than risk driven clinically oriented) and long-term safety and care were effectively integrated into the empowerment of the child and the family welfare (Lonne, Parton, Thompson and Harris, 2009;Ghaffar, Manby and Race, 2012;Harris, 2012;Johnson and Sullivan, 2008).…”

“…Literature also articulated regarding clarity of process of supporting the families. For example, if there are statutory recommendations for parenting skill development, the family should be given a clear direction about specific areas of training, details about training providers, indicators of successful training, cogent reassurance of honouring the training while addressing practical needs of the parents to enable their attendance (Johnson and Sullivan, 2008;Wiffin, 2010;Khan, 2015). While the discussion is offering alternative policy arguments for a family empowerment focused approach, there can be limitation to this perspective, particularly in light of significant chronic socio-emotional, physiological and other issues crippling the capability of parents to engage in the existing developmental change process.…”