How do you respond simultaneously to the needs of adults experiencing domestic violence and the specific needs of their children? Domestic Violence and Child Protection explores the challenges of working effectively in this complex field and offers positive models for practice.Leading practitioners and researchers outline the essential safety considerations for children, adult victims and child protection workers, and stress the importance of children's experiences, using children's own words to describe their diverse needs. The contributors offer examples of good practice in prevention, intervention and recovery, drawn from international settings. They highlight new directions for policy and practice, and consider whether these might be achieved through increased communication and coordination between agencies, or by developing multiprofessional agencies that are able to offer integrated responses. Individual chapters address child abduction, legal issues concerning child contact arrangements, and dealing with abuse in the context of divorce.Including perspectives from social services, health services and the voluntary sector, this book is a valuable source of information and ideas on how to work safely and sensitively with children living with domestic violence and will be a key reference for social workers, health professionals and policy makers.

Introduction, Cathy Humphreys, University of Warwick and Nicky Stanley, University of Central Lancashire. Part I: Defining the Issues and Setting the Scene. 1. Relevant Evidence for Practice, Cathy Humphreys. 2. Multi-Agency and Multi-Disciplinary Work: Barriers and Opportunities, Cathy Humphreys and Nicky Stanley. Part II: Children's Views and Needs. 3. What Children Tell Us: `He Said He Was Going to Kill Our Mum', Audrey Mullender, University of Oxford. 4. Prevention Programmes for Children and Young People in the UK. Jane Ellis, University of Warwick, Nicky Stanley and Jo Bell, University of Central Lancashire. 5. Listen Louder: Working with Children and Young People, Claire Houghton, Violence Against Women Unit, Scottish Executive. Part III: Protecting Women and Children. 6. Asking about Domestic Violence: Implications for Practice, Marianne Hester, University of Bristol. 7. `Point of Contact' Front-Line Workers Responding to Children Living with Domestic Violence, Jan Breckenridge, University of New South Wales, Australia, and Claire Ralfs, Relationships Australia. 8. Using Research to Develop Practice in Child Protection and Child Care. Elaine Farmer, University of Bristol. 9. Damned If You Do and Damned If You Don't? The Contradictions between Private and Public Law, Christine Harrison, University of Warwick. 10. Child Abuse and Domestic Violence in the Context of Parental Separation and Divorce: New Models of Invention, Thea Brown, Monash University, Melbourne. Part IV: Working with Perpetrators. 11. Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment and Safety Planning in Child Protection - Assessing Perpetrators, Lorraine Radford, Roehampton University, Neil Blacklock and Kate Iwi, Domestic Violence Intervention Project, London. 12. Are Men Who Use Violence Against Their Partners and Children Good Enough Fathers? The Need for an Integrated Child Perspective in Treatment Work with Men, Marius Råkil, Alternative to Violence, Oslo. 13. Confronting the issues of child abduction. Denise Carter, Re-unite, International Child Abduction Centre, UK. 13. Men's Use of Violence and Intimidation Against Family Members and Child Protection Workers, Brian Littlechild and Catherine Bourke, University of Hertfordshire. The Contributors. References. Indexes.