Social Work and Domestic Violence

Developing Critical and Reflective Practice

Lesley Laing,Cathy Humphreys,Kate Cavanagh

• Editore: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Anno: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781446290996
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Social Sciences
• Categoria: Social Work

Domestic violence affects all areas of social work. This book shows how social workers can intervene in everyday practice with victims, their families and perpetrators of domestic abuse. It provides students with knowledge of theory, research and policy to put directly in practice across a variety of legal and service-user contexts. Topics covered include:

• Child protection
• Interprofessional collaboration
• The policy and legal context
• Working with women
• Working with men

Each chapter begins with a case study and concludes with reflective questions to highlight practice dilemmas and challenge students to reflect critically. Further reading from a rich range of sources guides readers to expand their knowledge.

This book will be valuable reading for students studying domestic violence, child protection, and family social work, as well as practitioners of Social Work.

1

Introduction: Key Concepts in Social Work and Domestic Violence

Jessica is a newly qualified social worker employed in a drug and alcohol service. Amongst her numerous roles is the facilitation of the women’s group, a part of the service which provides follow-up and outreach to women who have experienced the residential rehabilitation service. Jessica is constantly struck by how many of the women report living with domestic violence, are concerned about their children, but worried that they are unable to tackle both their drug and alcohol problems as well as separating from the violence. Jessica previously worked in a women’s refuge while she was studying and where a more holistic service to women and their children was provided. She is concerned that the focus on drug and alcohol issues for the women where she is currently working is pushing both the issues for children and the engagement with the problem of domestic violence to the background. She knows she should be working to change the practice orientation but feels constrained by her more experienced co-facilitator who has rather pointedly maintained the focus on women’s engagement with their use of drugs and alcohol whenever Jessica has opened the discussion to address the other issues for children or the issues of violence.

The vignette about Jessica illustrates the way in which domestic violence emerges as an issue for social workers, albeit one which is not necessarily the focus of the service intervention. Social workers across a range of service sectors and specialist domestic violence workers have a varied and sometimes contentious history. At its best, it is a harmonious, challenging and productive relationship. As social workers with a long history in the violence against women movement, we would argue that there is more commonality than difference. The aspirations of social work and its professional and theoretical framework are congruent with the values inherent within the violence against women movement, of which domestic violence is a part. The intention of this book is to explore and support these compatibilities. In the process, we envisage that practices with children, women and men will be extended.

In this first chapter, we outline a number of key concepts to provide the framework through which the interface between social work and domestic violence can be analysed. These concepts include: working definitions of social work and domestic violence; an exploration of intersectionality and the significance of social location; attention to knowledge to support practice; the role of narrative and strengths based perspectives through which questions for students and practitioners are derived; and a discussion of critically reflective practice. The chapter finishes with a description of the structure of the chapters and different ways in which educators, facilitators and practitioners may wish to use the book and its presentation of the many dimensions of domestic violence.

The writing of this book arises from recognition that too often the interface between social workers and domestic violence workers has seen more disconnection than connection. Social work has not necessarily had a proud history in supporting the safety and protection of women and children and holding men accountable for their violence. In particular, the close association between child protection and social work has often placed a wedge between child protection workers and women’s advocates in domestic violence services. It is one of a number of divisions which this book will seek to address.

These divisions frequently occur through the ‘siloed’ nature of the work in human service organizations. Drug and alcohol services, mental health services, health services, services for disabled people, children’s services, youth services, services for older people and homelessness services all bring their own priorities and discourses, of which an understanding of domestic violence intervention is but one element. Social workers are present, though not exclusively employed in all these human service systems. In a parallel process, domestic violence is present, but not the exclusive problem in all these service systems. It is everywhere and too often nowhere on the radar of the workers involved. It is not the main ‘business’ of any of these services, yet when women, children and some men are living in fear, traumatized by violence and abuse, then their worlds, their decision making and their ability to change their lives will be severely constrained.

Engaging social workers such as Jessica in recognizing, assessing and intervening in domestic violence within diverse service arenas forms the primary motivation for writing this book. Our thesis is that an understanding of domestic violence intervention with its emphasis on safety and autonomy for victims and accountability and responsibility for perpetrators of violence should change practice in these services. It is not a peripheral problem but one which will usually require centre-stage attention when it is present. It is also not a problem which can always be referred to another, more specialized agency, though sometimes this will be appropriate.

Emphasis on safety and autonomy for victims and accountability and responsibility for perpetrators of violence provides the foundation for all domestic violence intervention in all practice settings.

Key Concepts for Social Work and Domestic Violence

A Working Definition of Social Work

A commitment to social justice lies at the heart of the aspirational framework through which the international definition of social work is derived:

The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work. (International Federation of Social Work, 2000)

Other definitions of social work in England, Canada and Australia reflect similar aspirations for social work. For example, in the United Kingdom, social workers joining the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) are required to agree with the Ethical Code of Practice which reflects the basic tenets of the international definition.

While most social work definitions are aspirational, the reality of practice within bureaucracies and large community sector organizations where most social workers are employed may be somewhat different. Social workers work within the organizational and legal constraints of these large bureaucracies. Housing, income support, child, youth and family policies may not be conducive to actioning a social justice agenda except as a point of resistance within a wider, conservative realm. The role of social workers as ‘agents of care or agents of control’ is an ongoing professional debate (Dickens, 2012; Thompson, 2002). The aspiration of developing anti-oppressive practice which challenges the policies of the very organization in which a worker is employed may credit social workers, and particularly frontline social workers, with more power and influence than their role permits (Harris, 2003). This terrain for social work is constantly developing and changing. Its definition and its boundaries are dependent upon the weight placed along four different dimensions outlined by Dickens (2012: 34) in his analysis of the multiple ethical and practice codes in the four countries of the United Kingdom. These include an emphasis on: values or roles and tasks; an individual or social change focus; an emphasis on care or control (empowerment or protection); and whether social work is defined by the profession or other public stakeholders such as politicians and the media.

While contested, we would argue that BASW Code of Ethics and the aspirational international definition of social work are not irrelevant. In the domestic violence arena they provide an essential framework for connection to the wider violence against women movement. Anti-oppressive practice with its attention to diversity across all social divisions including gender provides an ethical basis through which progressive social workers within the bureaucracy and community sector organizations can reflect and develop their work with women and children living with domestic violence. It will be a theme developed across the book to engage with students, educators, workers and their managers who tread a fine line between aspiration and the realities of working within a legally and resource constrained environment.

A Working Definition of Domestic Violence

All definitions and terminology include as well as exclude. The terminology of ‘domestic violence’ is no exception. ‘Intimate partner violence’, ‘domestic abuse’, ‘family violence’, ‘abuse by known men’, ‘batterer violence’ are all terms that are used to explain violence and abuse in intimate relationships.

A standard definition is provided by Women’s Aid, UK:

Domestic violence is physical, sexual, psychological or financial violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship and that forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour. This can include forced marriage and so-called ‘honour crimes’. Domestic violence may include a range of abusive behaviours, not all of which are in themselves inherently ‘violent’. (Women’s Aid Federation of England, nd)

This definition emphasizes the core element of coercive control and the patterned use of a range of tactics to achieve it. The following definition includes this element but also addresses its gendered nature and the effects of these behaviours. In addition, it makes the important point that domestic violence does not necessarily end with separation:

Domestic violence is … [v]iolent, abusive or intimidating behaviour carried out by an adult against a partner or former partner to control and dominate that person. Domestic violence causes fear, physical and/or psychological harm. It is most often violent, abusive or intimidating behaviour by a man against a woman. (NSW Department of Health, 2003: 4)

The Scottish definition in the National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland provides an encompassing definition, but adds:

In accepting this definition, it must be recognised that children are witness to and subjected to much of this abuse and there is a significant correlation between domestic abuse and the mental, physical and sexual abuse of children. (Scottish Executive, 2000: 5)

Each country will tend to emphasize the issues of domestic violence emerging in that particular country. For example, in the Australian context, the complexity of Indigenous kinship relationships needs to be recognized:

For many Indigenous people the term family violence is preferred as it encompasses all forms of violence in intimate, family and other relationships of mutual obligation and support. (Laing, 2000: 1)

Within the book, definitions that are encompassing and attend to the issues for children, Black and minority women, Indigenous women and same sex domestic violence provide the necessary framework for investigating the diverse experiences and vulnerabilities of different women, children and some men. Of particular significance are the issues for disabled women where the definitions of domestic violence need to be extended to include women and men abused within an institutional setting (which is their home) and by carers who may be intimate in terms of their access to personal space but are not partners or ex-partners (Healey and et al., 2008).

It can be helpful to reflect on which experiences are included, and which are marginalized, in various definitions of domestic violence.

An increasingly diverse approach to domestic violence highlights the close connection to the broader violence against women movement (Heise and Garcia-Moreno, 2002). The overlap of abusive experiences can be greater than the differences. It is therefore helpful to acknowledge the United Nations’ definition in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women resolution (A/RES/48/104) which sets out violence against women as:

[A]ny act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. (United Nations General Assembly, 1993)

The human rights frame is used to encompass the diverse experiences of women living with domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence. It provides a significant backdrop and acknowledgement that a life free from violence and abuse is a right which places obligations on states to take proactive and direct action on the issue.

While acknowledging the broader violence against women perspective, in this book we have nevertheless chosen to stay with ‘domestic violence’ as our dominant frame. The term has a long association with the women’s movement which recognized that domestic violence encompasses a pattern of power and control in intimate partner relationships in which gender inequality provides the social and cultural value system that can account for the ubiquitous nature of the problem. More recently the issues for children living with domestic violence have been highlighted (Mullender et al., 2002). Given that many social workers tangle with the issues of domestic violence through the destructive effects on children, focusing on domestic violence allows the issues for children to be highlighted and explored.

Contested Terminology

Language is contextual and often requires some explanation. We have already discussed definitions of ‘social work’ and ‘domestic violence’. However, there are many other locally specific terms, some of which do not translate easily across national contexts. We have chosen to discuss some issues for clarity in reading the book, but recognize that there will remain some terminology that will be unfamiliar or possibly jarring in different national contexts.

There is contention about the use of terms such as ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’. The strength of these terms is that they make clear the power relationship in which abuse occurs. While the use of the term ‘victim’ acknowledges the violation and oppression experienced, it can obscure the agency that the terminology of ‘survivor’ accentuates. We have used the terms interchangeably depending on context and at times have used ‘victim/survivor’ to highlight the complex coexistence of both agency and oppression. We have also gendered the use of the term ‘victim’ to acknowledge that women are most commonly, though we recognize not exclusively, the victims of domestic violence.

The use of the term ‘perpetrator’ is also problematic and some prefer to use terms such as ‘men who use violence’ to denote that such behaviour is a choice and/or that it is open to change. Again we have used these terms interchangeably, depending on context. In the United States, the term ‘batterer’ remains common. However, we have chosen not to use this terminology as it emphasizes physical assault at the expense of other tactics of control and coercion. We have generally referred to men as ‘perpetrators’, as this is the dominant but not the only pattern of abuse.

Defining disability is a contentious issue. Disability advocacy organizations in both the United Kingdom and Australia adopt a social model of disability that describes disability as the interaction between a person’s impairment and the disabling (negative) social and physical context. Disabling environments prevent people with disabilities from accessing human and justice services, transport, housing, work opportunities and education. The United Kingdom and Australia have taken different paths in differentiating this social perspective from the medical/impairment model of disability. In the United Kingdom, the terminology of ‘disabled people’ is preferred to highlight the disabling social context (Hague et al., 2011), while in Australia the preference has been to ‘put the person before’ the disability and impairment, using the term ‘people/women with disabilities’. We have tended to use the latter, or used the language of the publications cited.

One of the most difficult definitional challenges arises when talking about issues of ‘race’ and culture. Because these categories have commonly been used to exacerbate inequality and to define others as different/inferior to White people, it is difficult to acknowledge the disadvantage that follows without colluding in a process of ‘othering’. Multiple terms have been used over time in different countries in efforts to grapple with this element of complexity. In Australia, for example, the term ‘non-English speaking background’ (NESB) has largely been replaced by the term ‘culturally and linguistical...