domestic violence- direct work with very young children.

Hi I am social work student and have being given the task of carying out some direct work with children around domestic violence and completing direct work with the parents who are separated. I should plan this work around 6-10 session for about an hour each.

The children are aged between 2-5. I am finding it difficult to find resources for this age group.

I was thinking about doing a very simplified safety plan. I was thinking about talking to the children about what is good and bad touch through drawings and pictures and look at facial expressions of how people are feeling. I also wanted to talk to the children and there wishes and feelings about the violence and thier father by using drawings of their worries and a magic wand for thier wishes.

Can people please comment on this and any ideas or resources that they may have. Any ideas on the direct work with the parents would also be really useful.

I have asked other colleagues but the few I have asked have not completed direct work with children this young around domestic violence.

Hello kel,

Have a look at the signs of safety model. The model includes blank worksheets for what you have described above,  I believe that they can be found on the main website at -  http://www.signsofsafety.net/ but you may have to have a look around it.

Hope this helps!

Please see this thread on the same subject also. Please read my comments on there.

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/carespace/forums/domestic-abuse-direct-work-with-victims-11976.aspx#57920

Have the children you propose to work with been screened for the emotional/mental health effects of what they have been through? They need to be before any kind of direct work is attempted with them. They may have significant trauma-related emotional disturbance, and clumsily done 'direct work' can easily re-traumatise a child. Are they now in a totally safe and stable place and recieving safe and stable parenting with no risk of further abuse happening? I am horrified that you plan to talk to children so young (a two year old? Seriously? developmentally appropriate??) about their wishes and feelings regarding the domestic abuse - at that age they will struggle to put into words how they feel, and are likely to have very conflicting feelings about the violence and their attachment to the perpetrator. Direct questioning about that is likely to be emotionally damaging for them.

You need to be very clear about the following before you even contemplate doing any hands on work - who has asked you to do this? What is the aim of the work - what do you want to achieve? What would the effect on the children be of what you are proposing?

A woolly request to do 'direct work' is not enough to launch into potentially re-traumatising work with very emotionally vulnerable children. Honestly I find this very alarming.

I am a social worker in CAMHS with extensive experience of working with children who are traumatised following domestic abuse. In CAMHS we would approach this with extreme caution and sensitivity.

I agree with selks, this age group is far too young a group for someone who is not specifically trained in this field to work with. I am assuming that as you are a student you have very little experience and I think it is wrong for you to be using this setting with these children just so that you can tick off a few national occupational stanfards! Sorry if that is harsh but you must put the child first. I can't believe anyone would ask you to work with a 2 year old in this way to be honest. An idea could be to observe how the children are interacting with each other, ie are they displaying any signs of violence other than 'normal' rough play, might be a way of seeing how violence has affected them? Just an idea. I would concentrate on working with the parents, try and determine if they are aware of the effects the violence is having on their children, in what ways do they think it affects or doesn't affect them that kind of thing.

Indeed. Working with the parent is preferable for small children.

Hi thanks for your comments certainly has made me reflect. I have just being asked to complete direct work with the children and the parents around domestic violence. I have being given the core assessment which states that they are unsure how much the children have witness or the effects. Verbally however I have being told that the oldest child has shown sighns of aggression.

The manager wants me to complete a simple safety plan with the older child 4 years old by drawing pictures of thier safe place. Do you think this could be done without harming the child?

And would you suggest the rest of the work to involve just observing the children.

Has any one got any suggestions or resources for work with the separated parents. I was thinking about looking at the duluth wheel with the mother, talking about the effects of domestic abuse on the children and then completing a safety plan. With the father I was thinking about a session around the effects on the violence of the children but not sure what other work I could do with him.

You need advice from a Child Psychologist and if agreed the work needs to be undertaken by a trained Play Therapist.

Hi,

'Domestic violence' is a broad spectrum in that it can refer to a single incident or decades of abuse, an argument with some shoving or injuries that result in permanent disability. Please don't feel that I'm dismissing the effects of any level of domestic violence on children but the fact is that there aren't enough CAMHS workers or Play Therapists in the country to work with every child that has experienced DV between their parents at any level.

Obviously we can' t have case specific details but i think it would be helpful to have an indication from kel2812 of what these children may have witnessed. We will them be in a better position to judge if her supervisor has asked her to undertake something totally inappropriate (which I'm afraid is what the original post suggests).

Thanks

That's true regarding the spectrum of experiences, Marbles. And involvement of specialist (CAMHS / Child Psych) staff is not always warranted or needed. But involvement of someone with depth of knowledge and understanding of the issues is.

I think what alarmed me most about the OP's post (and this is not meant as a direct criticism of the OP, more an analysis of the issues raised. The OP did the right thing to ask for advice on this subject) was -

- Lack of clarity re what was meant by 'direct work'

-Lack of clarity re what the expectations of those who had requested it were

- Lack of clarity of what was hoped to be achieved by the work

- No acknowledgement of the emotional vulnerability of the children

- No acknowledgement of the appropriateness of 'direct work' for those children - is it appropriate? Would working with the parents be more appropriate?

- No acknowledgement of the developmental stages of the children and how that relates to the proposed 'direct work'

- It seemed that emotional vulnerability / psychological damage / mental health of the children had not been assessed prior to considering 'direct work'

I don't believe that work of this kind necessarily has to be done by a psychologist / CAMHS worker but it DOES need to be done by someone very experienced in working with young children and experienced in child mental health and domestic violence issues.

The failing here is not really with the OP who is a student and who has been 'tasked' with this to do, it is with his/her manager or superviser who feels that this is a suitable task for a practitioner without the necessary understanding of the issues concerned. All to often the idea of 'direct work' with children is wheeled out as if it is a sticking plaster that can be applied after trauma or family upheaval. If only it was as simple as that.

Bottom line is - we need to be very clear with 'direct work' with children on the following: What is the aim? Is it appropriate (in terms of development, age, emotional vulnerability etc)? What is the likely effect on the child of the direct work? Will it cause emotional upheaval? Can the carers provide safety for the child while this is taking place? And the most important question - is it in the child's best interests?

I'm going to go away and see if I can find any resources or research on this subject that may be of interest to post on here.

The other thing to note is that many CAMHS and Child Psychologists will offer consultation / supervision to allied workers such as Social Workers who might be wanting to undertake this kind of work. I woudl advise the OP to contact their local CAMHS to see if they could offer some consultation support to the OP.

Home Office guidance on direct work with children who have experienced DV:

http://ndvf.org.uk/files/document/848/original.pdf

Various from NSPCC:

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/reading_lists/domestic_violence_and_children_wda48895.html

Joseph Rowntree Foundation:

http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/working-with-families-where-there-domestic-violence

The effect of DV on children, includes some info on direct work

http://www.icyrnet.net/UserFiles/mullender.pdf

Others :

http://www.ssiacymru.org.uk/media/pdf/a/e/7_-_domestic_violence__formatted_.pdf

http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/domesticviolence.cfm

Also worth considering is the book 'Making an Impact - Children and Domestic Violence'

Without knowing where you are placed I feel the task you have been asked to do is not perhaps within your remit and role-perhaps as per the gscc code respect the expertise of others: you should seek the views or services of those who could provide the specialist services. for example womens aid could provide v good work for the mum. As a social worker we can't do it all by ourselves and need to work with others.

 As well meaning as you may be it may well be traumatic for the children if it is not done with knowledge and skill. I think you should other sources for direct work with the children.

O.P, I think the fact you have asked the question shows that you will be thoughtful and sensitive in your approach with the family. Many children known to all services are affected by Domestic Abuse.

Many practitioners will work with them in a day to day way and not necessarily have specialist knowledge.

You just need some caution and some understanding of the issues. As long as you don't think you are taking on the role of a 'therapist' I don't see a huge problem.