Child welfare policy and practice on children's exposure to domestic violence

Theodore P. Cross, Ben Mathews, Lil Tonmyr, Debbie Scott, Catherine Ouimet

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75 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There are emerging movements in several countries to improve policy and practice to protect children from exposure to domestic violence. These movements have resulted in the collection of new data on EDV and the design and implementation of new child welfare policies and practices. To assist with the development of child welfare practice, this article summarizes current knowledge on the prevalence of EDV, and on child welfare services policies and practices that may hold promise for reducing the frequency and impact of EDV on children. We focus on Australia, Canada, and the United States, as these countries share a similar socio-legal context, a long history of enacting and expanding legislation about reporting of maltreatment, debates regarding the application of reporting laws to EDV, and new child welfare practices that show promise for responding more effectively to EDV.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)210-216
Number of pages7
JournalChild Abuse & Neglect
Volume36
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Children
  • Exposure to domestic violence
  • Family violence
  • Child health
  • Law
  • Public policy
  • Mandatory reporting
  • Differential response

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