Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 10:20 AM

This presentation is part of: Domestic Violence and Child Welfare

Title: Characteristics of Services provided by the Public Child Welfare System that Facilitate or Impede Battered Women’s Process of Achieving Reunification

Purpose: This qualitative study explores converging and diverging perspectives of child welfare professionals and battered women involved in the public child welfare system about characteristics of services that facilitate or impede battered women’s reunification process.

Methods: The data were gathered through in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews with 17 battered women involved in the public child welfare system and 20 public child welfare professionals (supervisors, follow-up workers, and investigators). The verbatim transcriptions of these interviews were analyzed using Grounded Theory data analysis techniques: 1) open coding of line by line analysis to identify categories and sub-categories of themes; 2) axial coding to conceptualize data into categories and identify patterns and relationships among themes; and 3) the constant comparison method of comparing data across mothers, across professionals, and between mothers and professionals to identify the consistency and ranges in perspectives as well as the converging and diverging perspectives.

Results: The data from mothers and professionals revealed both converging and diverging perspectives on services provided by the child welfare system. Services include those directly provided by the child welfare system and those being referred by the child welfare system. Both mothers and professionals agreed that domestic violence related counseling services, such as individual counseling and support groups, were crucial in facilitating the reunification process. However, mothers and professionals disagreed on the helpfulness of the child welfare system’s intervention mainly focusing on the mother and not diligently reaching out to the father. Professionals mentioned the difficulties and possible delays in the reunification process when fathers, often the perpetrators, are involved in the process. Meanwhile, mothers interpreted system’s intervention and undivided attention as a punishment rather than a support. In regards to parenting classes, there were divergences even within the mother’s data as well as within the professional’s data. Some mothers and professionals mentioned the need and helpfulness of referring battered women to general parenting classes. However, other mothers and professionals mentioned that the battered mother’s parenting capabilities or qualities were not problematic. Some professionals also mentioned that when parenting classes were offered automatically, battered mothers often resisted. Professionals suggested developing a parenting program specifically designed for battered women, which should include contents on the effect of domestic violence on children and how to help children recover from witnessing domestic violence. Meanwhile, mothers did not mention the need of such specific parenting programs. Other services that mothers and professionals mentioned to be helpful in the reunification process included helping battered mothers build support network that would persist beyond the end of the public child welfare system’s intervention; housing services; interventions that would strengthen father-child relationship; and mental health counseling services for both mothers and children.

Implications: Findings give us a better understanding of the need of battered women involved in the child welfare system and the nature of conflict between battered women and the public child welfare professionals. Findings also suggest strategies for effective and efficient interventions for families who have experienced domestic violence.

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