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... en at a safe distance from their ex-partners and not be labeled uncooperative if they do no wish to co parent. I also believe that in cases involving domestic violence and visitation between the batterer and his children should be supervised. Time and time again you hear of children being abducted by a parent. (Sheeran & Hampton, M. A, 1999, 13) Alarmingly, the dangers that perpetrators pose to their victims and children do not cease when the relationship ends, Rather, separation increases risk and creates a new set to threats their emotional and physical well-being. It has been proven that victim is at risk for continuing abuse from that batterers during unsupervised visitation, in some instances battered women have been killed. (Sheeran & Hampton, M.
A, 14) Many battered women report threats against their lives during visitation and exchanges and some, in fact are killed in those contexts. The Commission on Domestic Violence Fatalities in New York found that of 57 deaths studied. , custody disputes were at the root of three homicides, two of which were committed in connection with exchange of the children. Victim and their children need to be protected by the courts when it comes to deciding if the batterers should have visitation or custody of their children. (Sheeran & Hampton, M. A, 14, 15) The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges recommends that states adopt a rebuttable presumption that it is not in the best interest of a child and is detrimental to a child to be placed in sole or jo 8 ing custody with a perpetrator of family violence.
The rebuttable presumption makes it harder for abusive parents to gain custody and raises the safety and well-being of victim-parents and children about other best interest standards generally applied to child custody determinations. By December 1998, 14 states gave additional weight to the issue of domestic violence by enacting legislation based in some part on the rebuttable presumption found in the Model Code on Domestic and Family Violence. This Model Code sets forth conditions for awarding visitation in cases involving domestic violence stating: A court may award visitation by a parent who committed domestic or family violence only if the court finds that adequate provision for the safety of the child and the parent who is a victim of domestic or family violence can be made Included within this section of the Model Code courts are now able to decide where batterers can pick up their children, supervised visitation, having batterer attend batterers program, have the batterer pay for supervision and (Sheeran & Hampton, M. A, 1999, 16) to post a bond for the return of the child and no overnight visitation. Also keeping the child and victims address confidential. Batterer should also be mandated by the courts to attend batterer programs, although in studies done about men who attend battering problems have not always stop the batterer from battering, There have been cases where it has help batterer to understand how his behavior has put his family in danger and the psychologically affects of his behavior.
Georgia Commission on Family Violence recommended the following protocol for batterers classes. (Georgia Commission on Family Violence, 2000, preface) Participation in a batterers program does not insure safety for victims. Not all batterers are appropriate candidates for batterers counseling / education programs. (Garrity, 1994, 2) We must understand that battering is not an illness that can be treated; in the use of the work treat or treatment in batterer programs implies individual pathology, and implies cure. We know that there is never a way to gauge a mans dangerousness or potential for continued battering, no matter what program he participates in or how compliant he seems to be in seems in the program. In order for batterers program to work the batterer must acknowledge that he has a problem.
According to the National Crime Prevention Council fact sheet batterers must accept the fact that their violent behavior will destroy their family. They must understand they are breaking the law when they physically hurt someone. They must take responsibility for your actions and get help. As you can see from the research use in this paper that there is a need for all agencies to work together in order to ensure the safety of victims and their children.
Removing children from the victim is not a solution for the series of problems cause by domestic violence. The first step in collaborating the efforts of domestic violence agency and child welfare agency in order to protect the victim and her children. Steps have been taken to combine the efforts of these two agencies. (Aron & Olson, 1997, 1) Agencies are reexamining their policies and procedures for training, investigation, assessment, case management, and other activities in light of this new thinking. (Aron & Olson, 2) Changes to child welfare agency practice around domestic violence will also benefit form collaborative policy development with police, civil and criminal courts, corrections (probation and parole), the schools and local clinic and hospital. There are sixteen principles that need to follow in order to collaborate the efforts of the agency mention above. (Schechter & Edleson, 1999, 14): 1. Leader of the community and its institution should join together to establish responses to domestic violence and child maltreatment that offer meaningful help to families including protections for all the victims from physical harm: adequate social and economic supports for families; and access to services that are respectful, culturally relevant, and responsive to the unique strengths and concerns of families. Simultaneously, the perpetrators responsible for their abusive behavior and provide a variety of legal intervention and social services to stop this violence. 2.
Child protection services, domestic violence agencies, juvenile courts and neighborhood residents should provide leadership to bring communities together to collaborate for the safety, well being and stability of children and families experiencing domestic violence and child maltreatment. 3. Local, state and federal governments and agencies should expand significantly and reallocate existing resources in order to create safety, well being, and stability for families experiencing violence and child maltreatment. 4. Child protection services, domestic violence agencies ad juvenile courts should treat all people who come before them with respect and dignity. 5. Child protection services, domestic violence programs, and juvenile courts must be committed to building internal capacity to respond effectively to families in which dual forms of maltreatment exist. 6. When making decisions and policies about information disclosure, juvenile courts and child protection agencies should balance (a) the need for information required to prove the occurrence of child maltreatment and to keep children safe with (b) the need for battered women to keep information confidential in order to maintain and plan effectively for their safety. 7. Local, state and federal agencies should collaborate to develop information gathering and evaluation systems to determine the intended and intended outcomes of collaborative efforts to serve families experiencing domestic violence and child maltreatment. 8.
Child protection services and community-based child welfare agencies should collaborate with domestic violence organizations and juvenile courts to provide leadership in developing new services and publicly articulating the need for additional resources in order to promote family safety. 9. Child protection services should improve the capacity to promote safety for all family members. 10. Child protection workers should develop service plans and referral that focus on the safety, stability and well-being of all victims of family violence and that hold domestic violence perpetrators accountable. 11. Domestic violence organizations, in collaboration with child protection services, child welfare agencies, juvenile courts and other community partners, should provide leadership to promote collaborations develop new resources for adults and child safety and well being. 12. Domestic violence organization should develop further their internal capacity to respond to the safety and support needs of families experiencing domestic violence and child maltreatment/ 13.
Interventions with perpetrators of domestic violence should be part of larger, coordinated networks of criminal justice responses and community services, should address the safety and well-being of both child and adult victims, and should hold perpetrators accountable for stopping violent and threatening behavior. 14. Judges and other members of court systems should participate fully in national and local efforts to improve juvenile courts. Such efforts include participation in the national court improvement initiative, collaborating with national organization such as the Family Court Judges (National Council) and the American Bar Association (ABA) and outstanding individual jurisdictions across the country. 15. The person who is responsible for the operation of the juvenile court is the judge.
All participants in the juvenile court look to the judge for leadership in reaching the goals and mandates of the juvenile court law. The judge must accept leadership responsible for ensuring that the goals of the juvenile courts are realized. 16. All members of the juvenile court system must adopt best practices for the management of cases involving child maltreatment and domestic violence. In order to be able to follow these sixteen principle that has to changes with federal and state laws. (Matthews, 1999, 51, 52, 53, 55) Congress first major effort to address domestic violence was the Family Violence Prevention and Services ACT, enacted in 1984. This legislation was designed to increase public awareness.
Ten years later the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) was passed, reflecting a growing national recognition that domestic violence remains a serious problem. VAWA included provisions to improve law enforcement, criminal justice and state court system response to domestic violence intervention, and counseling programs and protect immigrant women from deportation. In response to the gaps in VAWA a new legislative proposal, the Violence Against Women Act of 1999 had been introduced in Congress. The current version of VAMA 99 also included new provisions. The most significant of these for children include: funding supervised visitation centers for children in families affected by domestic violence. (This Act was passed by Senate on 10 / 11 / 00) The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act in 1980 federal policymaking and funding have influenced the development of state child welfare systems. Under AACWA state children welfare agencies must make reasonable efforts to avoid removing the child from the home by offering services to address the problems causing risk to the child.
Also in cases in which the child must be removed from home, the agency must make reasonable efforts to provide services so that the child can safety return home. a major revision of federal child welfare law and policy was brought about by the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. ASFA has some disturbing implications for children affected by domestic violence. The new, shorter time lines for foster care cases are problematic for battered parents. Such parents may need considerable amount of time to take the step necessary to ensure their own safety. The implementation of ASFA may intensify the risks of unintended harmful effects of state welfare laws on children and heighten the importance of state law innovations.
In all cases involving domestic violence we must offer services to all involved. As provider we must ensure that every member of a family that has domestic violence issue receive services. As citizens we must report cases of domestic violence to the police so that the appropriate action can be taken against batterers. Victims should be referred to domestic violence agencies and if child welfare become involved. These two agencies must work together and advocate for the client in court or with any other agency that become involved to try to make the victim and her children safe. Politicians need to pass laws that will help victims and their children and not pull family apart.
In domestic violence case the issue of failing to protect must be investigation thoroughly to make certain that children are not removed from the home inappropriately and if children have to be removed so should the victim, because the she can not protect herself against her batterer. As you can see we all have a role in ending the cycle of abuse. Bibliography: References Aron, L. Y. , & Olson, K.
K. (1997, March). Efforts by child welfare agencies to address domestic violence-The experiences of five communities. The Urban Institute, 1997. March, 1 - 3. Retrieved 11 / 05 / 2000 from the World Wide Web: web Burt, T. (1999, Spring).
Caught in the crossfire: Children and domestic violence. Domestic violence through the eyes of a child, 19 - 3, 1 - 3. Retrieved 11 / 03 / 00 from the World Wide Web: web Carter, J. & Schechter, S. (1997, November). Child abuse and domestic violence: Creating community partnerships for safe families...
Suggested Components of an Effective Child Welfare Response to Domestic Violence, , 1 - 15. Retrieved 10 / 20 / 00 from the World Wide Web: web Domestic Violence Information for Women (2000, July 31). Why she stays... Why did I stay, , 1 - 3.
Retrieved 11 / 04 / 2000 from the World Wide Web: http: / web Failure to Protect Work Group (1999, April). Charging battered mothers with " Failure to Protect"; Still blaming the victim. , , 1 - 36. Fantuzzo, J. W. , & Mohr, W. K. (1999, Winter). Prevalence and effects of child exposure to domestic violence.
The Future of Children DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND CHILDREN, 9. No 3, 22 - 31. Retrieved 11 / 04 / 00 from the World Wide Web: web Garrity, R. (1994). New York state coalition against domestic violence on batterers' program. , , 1 - 5. Retrieved 11 / 05 / 2000 from the World Wide Web: http: //www. come.
orbis / standards /napoli. html Georgia Commission on Family Violence (2000). Model protocol for batterers classes. , , 1 - 12. Retrieved 11 / 05 / 00 from the World Wide Web: web Groves, B. M. (1999, Winter). Mental Health Services for Children who witness domestic violence.
The Future of Children DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND CHILDREN, 9 No 3, 122 - 132. Retrieved 11 / 04 / 00 from the World Wide Web: web Lemon, N. K. (1999, Winter). The legal system's response to children exposed to domestic violence. The Future of Children DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ADN CHILDREN, 9 No 3, 67 - 83. Retrieved 11 / 04 / 2000 from the World Wide Web: web of children.
org / dvc Matthews, M. A. (1999, Winter). The impact of federal and state laws on children exposed to domestic violence... The Future of Children DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND CHILDREN, 9 No 3, 50 - 66. Retrieved 11 / 04 / 00 from the World Wide Web: web National Crime Prevention Council (2000). Domestic violence-The hidden crime.
Self, Home, and Family Protect Yourself, , 1 - 3. Retrieved 11 / 05 / 2000 from the World Wide Web: web Saunders, D. G. PH.
D. (1998, August). In brief: Child custody and visitation decisions in domestic violence cases: Legal trends, research findings. and recommendations. Violence Against Women Online Resources, August 1998, 1 - 11. Retrieved 10 / 20 / 00 from the World Wide Web: web Schechter, S. & Edleson, J.
L. (1999). Effective intervention in domestic violence& child maltreatment cases: Guidelines for policy and practice. Reno, Nevada: National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Sheeran, M. & Hampton, B... M. A (1999, Spring).
Supervised visitation in cases of domestic violence. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, , .
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Research essay sample on Child Welfare And Domestic Violence
