Call the Police If Your Parents Start Fighting: Children's Perspectives on the Police Response to Gender Based Violence

Background and Purpose:
There is now a considerable evidence base recognizing the negative impact that living in a domestically violent household can have on children, alongside a growing consensus that they are victims in their own right. This has led to a focus on the response of professionals, in particular the police, who have been identified as first responders to many children living in these situations. However, children are often positioned on the ‘side-lines’ of the police response, which continues to focus largely on the adult victim and perpetrator, rendering the child invisible.
Drawing selectively from findings of a study conducted in Ireland, this paper focuses on children’s narratives elicited through story-telling, that resulted in a rich account of how the police can support children in feeling safe at this ‘key moment’ of response. The findings also contribute to an expanding body of work that recognises children’s capacity as research informants who can contribute to shaping policy and practice responses to gender based violence.

Methods:
This qualitative study employed semi-structured individual interviews with children (n = 10) to explore their subjective views and perspectives on contact with the police in the context of gender based violence. Three additional subsamples included individual semi-structured interviews with police (n=14), mothers (n=11) and focus groups with a range of health and social care practitioners (HSCP) (n=25). Mothers, children and HSCP practitioners were recruited through a number of statutory and voluntary child and family services and specialist gender based violence services in both rural and urban settings in Ireland. Police officers were recruited through the Irish Police Service. Data was coded and analysed thematically, with triangulation across the data set from the four groups resulting in both divergence and commonality across themes.

Findings:
The findings revealed that children were fearful of the police and responded by ‘hiding’ on their arrival to the home. The majority of the children however, wanted officers to ‘find’ them and offer reassurance. The majority of police officers believed that unless children were physically present and in some cases visibly upset, they had not been impacted by the abusive incident and were therefore not considered victims. Positioned on the side lines of this adult problem, children were also considered to not understand what was going on. Through the research process however, children presented as competent social actors capable of telling the police what they needed to feel safe and shared their concerns about current police practice that left them with feelings of worry.

Conclusion and Implications:
Findings highlight the need for a direct police response to children present at a domestic violence incident that acknowledges their needs as victims. The use of story-telling provided children with the space to share their views safely and demonstrates their capacity as valuable research informants that can help accurately inform best practice responses.