Some families are dangerous environments. Most practitioners in social work, child protection, and hospital and community medicine, as well as the police, will know from their professional experience the extent of spouse abuse, child abuse, sibling violence and maltreatment of the elderly within the family setting. Understanding family violence is the first step towards prevention. This book deals with the nature and causes of abuse within the family, with its prediction and assessment, and with methods for intervention and prevention. Reflecting the research evidence of cycles of violence and maltreatment, the book is organized as a progressive analysis of abuse of spouses, children, siblings, parents and family elders. The authors are both well known for their academic and professional work with families, and have written this book for professionals requiring a research- and evidence-based (rather than anecdotal) guide to the problems of family violence and to the best practice in related intervention work with families and couples. This book is published in the Wiley Series in Family Psychology edited by Neil Frude, University of Wales, Cardiff.

Thanks to the Simpson case, domestic violence is no longer a dirty little secret. It remains, however, a devastating problem, and even more, a deadly killer. What is the answer? In 1994, Lou Brown, father of Nicole Brown Simpson, gave us one solution by establishing a foundation in his daughter's name that provides urgently needed funding to battered women's shelters across the country. Now he goes a step further, and with the help of a like-minded pastor and a legal activist who has been battered, offers hope and practical strategies for combating domestic violence. In a book whose first half is geared to support network people like himself--parents, families, friends, both personal and professional, and acquaintances who can and should make a difference--and whose second half is directed at the victims of abuse, here is an action plan for battered women and those around them. Stop Domestic Violence offers a checklist for the victim of domestic violence, from obtaining restraining orders to getting the support network on her side. Here are steps on how to combat battering within families, within communities, within homes and at the legislative level. For Concerned Friends and Family: - What makes these men do it, and is there a cure for them? - Why do women stay? - What can I do to help a battered woman? And for the Victim--How do I: - Get stronger on the inside? - Deal with the legal system? - Stay sane in a shelter? - Stay save and begin recovery? This is a how-to book--practical, easy to use--and it just might save a life.

Family Violence Across the Life Course: Research, Policy and Prevention

This thorough exploration of the major types of family violence details the range of abusive behaviours perpetrated within family systems. Case vignettes effectively illustrate these events, and the victims' experiences and perceptions of the abuse.Chapters delineate: the reasons why various types of abuse continue to occur; how different types of violent behaviour may be treated; and suggestions for prevention. In addition, the author provides definitions of terms, summaries, valuable references and additional suggested readings.

Reports of mistreated children, domestic violence, and abuse of elderly persons continue to strain the capacity of police, courts, social services agencies, and medical centers. At the same time, myriad treatment and prevention programs are providing services to victims and offenders. Although limited research knowledge exists regarding the effectiveness of these programs, such information is often scattered, inaccessible, and difficult to obtain. Violence in Families takes the first hard look at the successes and failures of family violence interventions. It offers recommendations to guide services, programs, policy, and research on victim support and assistance, treatments and penalties for offenders, and law enforcement. Included is an analysis of more than 100 evaluation studies on the outcomes of different kinds of programs and services. Violence in Families provides the most comprehensive review on the topic to date. It explores the scope and complexity of family violence, including identification of the multiple types of victims and offenders, who require different approaches to intervention. The book outlines new strategies that offer promising approaches for service providers and researchers and for improving the evaluation of prevention and treatment services. Violence in Families discusses issues that underlie all types of family violence, such as the tension between family support and the protection of children, risk factors that contribute to violent behavior in families, and the balance between family privacy and community interventions. The core of the book is a research-based review of interventions used in three institutional sectorsâ€"social services, health, and law enforcement settingsâ€"and how to measure their effectiveness in combating maltreatment of children, domestic violence, and abuse of the elderly. Among the questions explored by the committee: Does the child protective services system work? Does the threat of arrest deter batterers? The volume discusses the strength of the evidence and highlights emerging links among interventions in different institutional settings. Thorough, readable, and well organized, Violence in Families synthesizes what is known and outlines what needs to be discovered. This volume will be of great interest to policymakers, social services providers, health care professionals, police and court officials, victim advocates, researchers, and concerned individuals.

Violence against women and children is a serious public health concern, with costs at multiple levels of society. Although violence is a threat to everyone, women and children are particularly susceptible to victimization because they often have fewer rights or lack appropriate means of protection. In some societies certain types of violence are deemed socially or legally acceptable, thereby contributing further to the risk to women and children. In the past decade research has documented the growing magnitude of such violence, but gaps in the data still remain. Victims of violence of any type fear stigmatization or societal condemnation and thus often hesitate to report crimes. The issue is compounded by the fact that for women and children the perpetrators are often people they know and because some countries lack laws or regulations protecting victims. Some of the data that have been collected suggest that rates of violence against women range from 15 to 71 percent in some countries and that rates of violence against children top 80 percent. These data demonstrate that violence poses a high burden on global health and that violence against women and children is common and universal. Preventing Violence Against Women and Children focuses on these elements of the cycle as they relate to interrupting this transmission of violence. Intervention strategies include preventing violence before it starts as well as preventing recurrence, preventing adverse effects (such as trauma or the consequences of trauma), and preventing the spread of violence to the next generation or social level. Successful strategies consider the context of the violence, such as family, school, community, national, or regional settings, in order to determine the best programs.

How can we prevent intimate partner violence (IPV)? And how do we define and measure “success” in preventing it? This book brings together researchers and practitioners from a wide range of fields to examine innovative strategies and programs for preventing IPV. The authors discuss evaluations of current prevention efforts, paying particular attention to underserved groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and refugees. Among the issues addressed are primary prevention programs that target adolescents and young adults, strategies designed to engage men and boys, IPV screening in different settings, the impact of the criminalization of IPV on minority populations, restorative justice programs, interventions for women who use violence, and innovative shelter programming to prevent re-victimization. The volume concludes by identifying the gaps in knowledge about effective prevention and highlighting the most promising future directions for prevention research and strategies.

Though help is out there for victims of domestic violence, it's not always easy to find. The people who seek it often go from agency to agency, telling their story again and again. The rapidly developing Family Justice Center movement seeks to bring all community services for family violence, elder abuse, stalking, and sexual assault under one roof. In Dream Big, the visionaries behind the Family Justice Center movement use testimonies of survivors, staff in existing Centers, and domestic violence movement leaders to paint a future where families come first, and professionals come together to stop family violence. Everyone can play a role. Dream Big will show you how. Praise for Dream Big "Casey Gwinn's work with women and families that are survivors of domestic abuse is nothing short of extraordinary. I have been inspired by his vision and dedication to ending the cycle of violence against women in this country and I hope Dream Big will inspire others as well." Reese Witherspoon, Actress, Avon Global Ambassador "Every police chief and law enforcement policy maker in America should read Dream Big... [The book] challenges us all to be in the lifesaving business together." Lt. Mark Wynn, Nashville Metro Police Department (Retired) "Dream Big is an easy read for anyone who wants to join their community's effort to stop violence against women and children." Sue Else, President, National Network to End Domestic Violence "Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack are leading the way forward in the domestic violence movement. They are challenging us to think outside the box--to keep growing, changing, and evolving as we work to prevent family violence." Sarah Buel, Survivor, Advocate, Law Professor "Dream Big persuasively tells the story of a dream made real...This book teaches the principles that can help any community reduce violence and save lives." Gavin de Becker, Bestselling Author, The Gift of Fear

Discover research from across the United States and around the world on children exposed to domestic violence! If you are a member of a helping, medical, or legal profession, Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: Current Issues in Research, Intervention, Prevention, and Policy Development will help you explore research, assessments, interventions, and policy and prevention for children, victims of battering, batterers, and their families. This important book focuses on various aspects of spousal/partner abuse and child maltreatment. Comprehensive and thorough, Children Exposed to Domestic Violence focuses on three major sections: theoretical and research issues, intervention and prevention strategies, and policy development from an international perspective. Some of the important issues you will examine include: exploring the importance of partnerships between the domestic violence front-line workers and researchers at universities addressing the thorny issues of parenting in abused women assessing all areas of children's adjustment as well as their various relationships that may be problematic investigating the results of a quarter century research on men who batter by focusing on the crucial link between exposure to violence in childhood and adult marital behavior understanding the role of physiological and environmental factors as central to the role in domestic violence exploring the challenges faced by shelter staff in providing services to children who accompany their mother to find refuge examining new ideas for primary prevention programs in schools understanding policy and legislative implications of the growing body of literature on the impact of exposure to violence on children Children Exposed to Domestic Violence exemplifies the serious challenges faced by social workers, educators, policymakers, psychologists and others in helping professions working with children who have been exposed to domestic violence. You will gain insight into the vast amount of research that has taken place in the last ten years on this problem that will assist you with creating research ideas, interventions, prevention programs, and policies concerning children exposed to domestic violence.