Child abuse is a social problem that affects millions of children each year. Bethea (1999) found child abuse was 15 times more likely to occur in families where spousal abuse had occurred. This Quantitative/Qualitative study, conducted by public child welfare professionals, examined closed child protective cases to answer the research question, What is the relationship between repeat child maltreatment and the existence of domestic violence in the family? Methodology Quantitative and Qualitative research designs were used to examine the dependent variable, repeat maltreatment. Using a longitudinal design, a sample (n=121) of available child protection cases, closed between January 2002 and June 2002, were examined for repeat maltreatment during the 30 months following case closure. Frequencies, chi-square, t-test, and ANOVA testing were used to analyze the data. To gain a more in-depth understanding of the workers' perceptions of the relationship between domestic violence and repeat maltreatment, face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Family Service Workers employed by the public child protection agency utilized for the quantitative study. Findings Chi-square testing found repeat child maltreatment to have a significant relationship with domestic violence. The results indicated that there was a significant decrease in repeat child maltreatment when services were offered to families and to the domestic violence perpetrator. Although 70.6% of the cases with repeat maltreatment were found to have a history of domestic violence, only 17.3% of the cases addressed domestic violence in safety planning. When there was a presence of domestic violence, but the issue was not addressed there was an increase in repeat child maltreatment. Findings highlight the relationship between, age of child, worker assessment, quality of solution based casework services and repeat maltreatment. Using Tesch's method for analysis of qualitative data, themes emerging from the qualitative analysis included (a) domestic violence has a great impact on the lives of children, (b) counseling and anger management services are limited, (c) parents' ability to effectively parent their children is negatively impacted by domestic violence, and (d) ineffective parenting and lack of services make it more probable for abuse to reoccur. Findings suggest ineffective assessment and casework may lead to a poor understanding of the issues within the family. Implication for Practice and Policy The results of this quantitative/qualitative study suggest that workers need a better understanding of the impact of domestic violence on repeat child maltreatment. This is an important topic for social work because children in homes where domestic violence is present are higher risk of being abused or neglected. The results of this study reinforce the importance of making training and professional development opportunities related to domestic violence available to child welfare workers. The mixed methodology of the study provides quantitative data as well as an in-depth understanding of protection workers' perceptions of the impact of domestic violence on repeat child maltreatment. This study, conducted by front line child welfare workers, adds the voice of practitioners to the existing knowledge on repeat maltreatment.

References Bethea, L. (1999). Primary prevention of child abuse. American Family Physician, 59(6), 1577-1586.