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Swimming against the tide: managing child contact in the context of domestic violence.Download this presentation (Part 1) - 263KB PDF AuthorDr Lesley LaingOrganisationSchool of Social Work and Policy Studies, University of SydneyOver the past 5 years there has been increasing recognition of the harmful impacts on children of exposure to domestic violence. For example, under phase one of the Australian government's national domestic violence policy - Partnerships Against Domestic Violence(PADV) - "working with children and young people to break the cycle of violence between generations", was one of six priority areas. However, despite the Partnerships definition of domestic violence including abuse and violence after separation, no projects were funded to address the impact of post-separation violence and abuse on children and young people and it was not identified as a priority for action in the ensuing evaluation of PADV. Over the same time period, an increasingly "pro-contact" culture has been developing within the Australian Family Law system, flowing from the legal changes implemented in 1996. This has become highly politicised. In 2003, the Prime Minister introduced an inquiry into a policy change that would have seen the introduction of a rebuttable presumption that residence be shared on a 50:50 basis. In June, 2005, the Attorney General announced at a conference of the Lone Fathers' Association, the introduction of tough measures for those (i.e. women) who "deliberately disobeyed" court contact orders. Further, he announced that allegations of abuse would be subject to "compulsory independent verification". This reflects the dominant discourse that women who seek to limit contact between children and ex-partners who have been abusive, are motivated by vengeance rather than by efforts to ensure their safety and that of their children. This paper will discuss the disjunction between these two policy areas - domestic violence and Family Law - and explore its impact on women and children's safety through a presentation of the findings of a small study that explored in depth, women's efforts to manage contact in the context of post-separation violence and abuse. The women's stories highlight the range of tactics used by ex-partners to attempt to maintain control over the women, and the strategies that women developed to try to protect themselves and their children from further abuse. The study is located in a feminist women's service that has developed a contact "changeover" service to support women and children in managing contact safely, and includes the perspectives of the staff of the service. PresentationPaperBiographyLesley Laing is a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Work and Policy Studies at the University of Sydney where she co-ordinates undergraduate and post-graduate programs for social workers on violence against women and children. Between 2000 and 2003, she was foundation Director of the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse at the University of New South Wales. Prior to this, she was Director of the New South Wales Education Centre Against Violence where she established statewide training programs and educational resources for health workers on adult and child sexual assault, domestic violence, and child protection. Lesley is a social worker who has worked in direct service delivery, policy, training and research in the fields of community health, child and adolescent mental health, child protection and violence against women. She is co-editor, with Jan Breckenridge, of the book Challenging Silence: Innovative Responses to Sexual and Domestic Violence. She is currently involved in research on coordinated responses to domestic violence; post-separation violence against women and children; domestic violence and women's mental health; and treatment of adolescent sexual offenders. |
