Summary

Even though an extensive body of literature on children has swept the field of domestic violence in the last 30 years, little is known about how domestic violence shelter workers understand children’s situations and how they intervene with them. This article seeks to address this gap in the literature, and presents the results of a study conducted with 48 advocates in the province of Québec (Canada).

Findings

The data suggest that most of the participants adopt a child-centred perspective and consider the children in their own right during their stay. The accounts of the participants’ practices also reveal that they perceive children as being vulnerable and at-risk. With a moderate emphasis on vulnerability and risk, the participants tend to support the children alongside their mothers, while associating potential risks with the behaviour of the perpetrator of domestic violence. However, with a strong focus on vulnerability and risk, participants tend to cast aside the perpetrators’ behaviour and monitor the women-as-mothers during their stay while associating potential risk with their [in]actions under the circumstances. This can lead to mother-blaming, surveillance and more authoritarian interactions.

Applications

The understanding of children living with domestic violence needs to remain rooted in a feminist analysis of violence against women in order to avoid some of the issues highlighted in the article. Furthermore, studies that seek to shed light on best social work practices when working with children in alliance with their mothers from a feminist perspective are crucially needed.

中文翻译：

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家庭暴力庇护所中的儿童：女权主义观点崩溃了吗？

概括

尽管过去 30 年来大量有关儿童的文献席卷了家庭暴力领域，但人们对家庭暴力庇护所工作人员如何了解儿童的处境以及如何对其进行干预却知之甚少。本文旨在弥补文献中的这一空白，并介绍了对魁北克省（加拿大）的 48 名倡导者进行的一项研究的结果。

发现

数据表明，大多数参与者采取以儿童为中心的观点，并在逗留期间考虑儿童自身的权利。对参与者实践的描述还表明，他们认为儿童是脆弱且处于危险之中的。参与者适度强调脆弱性和风险，倾向于与母亲一起支持孩子，同时将潜在风险与家庭暴力施暴者的行为联系起来。然而，由于对脆弱性和风险的强烈关注，参与者往往会抛开肇事者的行为，并在女性作为母亲的逗留期间对其进行监控，同时将潜在风险与她们在这种情况下的行为联系起来。这可能会导致母亲责备、监视和更专制的互动。

应用领域

对遭受家庭暴力的儿童的理解需要植根于对暴力侵害妇女行为的女权主义分析，以避免文章中强调的一些问题。此外，迫切需要从女权主义的角度开展研究，以阐明与母亲一起与儿童一起工作时的最佳社会工作实践。