Children in Domestic Violence Shelters

International Perspectives

Linda Arnell, Sara Thunberg, Åsa Källström

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9783031954764
• eBook ISBN:
  9783031954771
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Civil Rights in Law
• Index: Social Sciences

This edited collection provides a detailed picture of children’s lives when living at domestic violence shelters (also termed refuges) which provide a safe space for victims. It draws on original empirical research from countries including the UK, USA, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Israel and Australia to examine how domestic violence shelters are managed and understood in various social systems. The key themes of the book are school and everyday life, agency and transitions, and support. Using a range of methods including ethnography, interviews, mental health surveys, this book draws on the voices of children, mothers, and workers and explores a range of issues affecting particularly marginalised groups (e.g. infants and teenagers). It includes recommendations for practice and speaks to those in law, social work, nursing and criminology.

Table of contents

• Palgrave Advances in Child Justice
• Children in Domestic Violence Shelters
• Preface
• Series Editors’ Introduction
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• 1. Introduction: Children in Domestic Violence Shelters
• 2. A Historical Overview of the Research Field: Children in Domestic Violence Shelters
• 3. Using an ‘Infant and Child Led’ Model of Practice Within Australian Women’s Refuges
• 4. ‘…Because Apparently, You're a Child? …’ Delivering Effective Support for Teenagers Living in Refuges
• 5. Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing Mental Healthcare for Children: Perspectives of Mothers in U.S. Domestic Violence Shelters
• 6. Living in Shelter with Children: Mothers’ Perceptions of Quality in Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence
• 7. Ordinary, Everyday Life During Extraordinary Circumstances at a Domestic Violence Shelter
• 8. Children’s Perceptions of School Responses to Abuse and Neglect During and After Staying at Domestic Violence Shelters: Pathways to Resilience
• 9. ‘At Least It Is Safer Than Home’: Children and the Use of Technology in Domestic Violence Shelters
• 10. Children’s Perspectives on the Phases of Staying at a Domestic Violence Shelter
• 11. Respecting Children's Voices: An In-depth Glace into Children's Perceptions of Their Experience of Living in and Leaving Domestic Violence Shelters
• 12. Lessons Learned and Going Forward
• Index