Participation for children exposed to domestic violence? Social workers' approaches and children's strategies

Abstract

This article explores social workers' approaches to children exposed to domestic violence and children's strategies in encounters with these professionals in the context of family law proceedings. Investigator approaches as well as child strategies are reconstructed from children's narratives. Furthermore, possible links between the social worker's approach described by a particular child, and the child's own strategies are outlined. Participation can offer children validation of their experiences and support their recovery after exposure to violence. However, it is suggested that it seems to be a challenging task for social workers to both validate children's experiences of violence and simultaneously offer them participation in the investigation process.

Artikeln undersöker vårdnads-, boende- och umgängesutredares bemötanden av barn som upplevt pappas våld mot mamma samt barns strategier i möten med den här gruppen socialarbetare. Såväl de professionellas praktik som barnens strategier rekonstrueras ur barns berättelser. Vidare undersöks relationen mellan det bemötande som beskrivs av ett enskilt barn, och barnets egna strategier. Delaktighet i familjerättsprocesser kan bidra till giltiggörande av barns upplevelser och ge dem stöd i återhämtningen efter att de utsatts för den ena förälderns våld mot den andra. Det framstår dock som en utmaning för familjerättsutredare att bemöta utsatta barn som offer och samtidigt erbjuda dem delaktighet i utredningsprocessen.

Keywords:

• Child Welfare
• Domestic Abuse
• Law
• Participation/Citizenship
• Practice/Theory/Methods

Sökord:

• Barnskydd
• Våld i Familjen
• Familjerätt
• Delaktighet
• Praktik/Teori/metoder

Acknowledgements

The article is a revised version of a previous article in Swedish written together with Elisabet Näsman. I am especially grateful to her when it comes to ideas organising the text. The part of the research project ‘Children who have experienced their father's violence against their mother encounter the family law—vulnerable children as social actors in investigations concerning custody, contact or residence’ (2005–2007) that underpins this article was funded by the Swedish Crime Victim Fund. In addition to the author, the project team consisted of Gunilla Dahlkild-Öhman and Elisabet Näsman at Uppsala University, and Jeanette Sundhall at Göteborg University.

Notes

1. In conversations with children social workers sometimes use a deck of cards with pictures of bears showing different moods and feelings.

2. The ‘12 year limit’ drawn upon in practice was based upon previous rules for enforcement of court orders (in force until June 2006) which meant that orders should not be enforced against the child's wishes if the child had reached the age of 12 or equivalent maturity.