Contradictions and Their Consequences: How Competing Policy Mandates Facilitate Use of a Punitive Framework in Domestic Violence

Abstract

Research shows child welfare cases involving caregiver domestic violence (DV) continue to produce punitive consequences for non-abusive adult victims. This occurs despite the adoption of a supportive policy framework that emphasizes perpetrator responsibility for DV-related harm to children. Risk assessment procedures have been implicated in punitive outcomes, but we know little about how they shape child welfare workers’ decision-making practice. Focusing on a state with a supportive policy framework, this paper uses grounded theory to examine how policy contradictions, procedural directives around risk assessment, and informal interventions produce punitive consequences for adult victims of DV and unmitigated risk to children. Data include state policy and procedural documents and interviews with child welfare workers describing decision-making in their most recent completed case and most recent case involving DV. Findings point to the need for active alignment of policies and procedures, greater integration of knowledge across practice areas, renewed commitments to differential response, and greater inclusion of DV specialists in child welfare settings.

Keywords

decision-making child welfare domestic/intimate partner violence exposure to domestic violence risk assessment

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Baird

Wagner

(2000). The relative validity of actuarial and consensus based risk assessment systems. Children and Youth Services Review, 22, 839–871. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0190-7409(00)00122-5

Bair-Merritt

M. H.

Blackstone

Feudtner

(2006). Physical health outcomes of childhood exposure to intimate partner violence: A systematic review. Pediatrics, 117(2), e278–e290. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2005-1473

Banks

Landsverk

Wang

(2008). Changing policy and practice in the child welfare system through collaborative efforts to identify and respond effectively to family violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(7), 903–932. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260508314693

Bosk

E. A.

(2018). What counts? Quantification, worker judgment, and divergence in child welfare decision making. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 42(2), 205–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2017.1422068

Bosk

E. A.

(2019). Iron cage or paper cage? The interplay of worker characteristics and organizational policy in shaping unequal responses to a standardized decision-making tool. Social Problems. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spz028

Bosk

E. A.

Feely

(2020). The goldilocks problem: Tensions between actuarially based and clinical judgement in child welfare decision-making. Social Problems. Forthcoming.

Campbell

C. A.

Howard

Rayford

B. S.

Gordon

D. M.

(2015). Fathers matter: Involving and engaging fathers in the child welfare system process. Children and Youth Services Review, 53, 84–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.03.020

Carlson

Voith

Brown

J. C.

Holmes

(2019). Viewing children’s exposure to intimate partner violence through a developmental, social-ecological, and survivor lens: The current state of the field, challenges, and future directions. Violence Against Women, 25(1), 6–28. https://doi.org/0.1177/1077801218816187

Charmaz

(2014). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis (2nd ed.). Sage.

10.

Coohey

(2007). What criteria do child protective services investigators use to substantiate exposure to domestic violence? Child Welfare, 86(4), 93–122.

11.

Creswell

J. W.

Poth

C. N.

(2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Sage.

12.

Cross

T. P.

Mathews

Tonmyr

Scott

Ouimet

(2012). Child welfare policy and practice on children’s exposure to domestic violence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 36(3), 210–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.11.004

13.

Cui

Ueno

Gordon

Fincham

F. D.

(2013). The continuation of intimate partner violence from adolescence to young adulthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 75(2), 300–313. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12016

14.

Dunlap

J. A.

(2004). Judging Nicholson: An assessment of Nicholson v. Scoppetta. Denver University Law Review, 82(4), 671–689.

15.

Edleson

J. L.

(1998). Responsible mothers and invisible men: Child protection in the case of adult domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 13(2), 294–298. https://doi.org/10.1177/088626098013002010

16.

Edleson

J. L.

Gassman-Pines

Hill

M. B.

(2006). Defining child exposure to domestic violence as neglect: Minnesota’s difficult experience. Social Work, 51(2), 167–174. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/51.2.167

17.

Edleson

J. L.

Shin

Armendariz

K. K. J.

(2008). Measuring children’s exposure to domestic violence: The development and testing of the Child Exposure to Domestic Violence (CEDV) Scale. Children and Youth Services Review, 30(5), 502–521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2007.11.006

18.

Emerson

Fretz

Shaw

(1995). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes. University of Chicago Press.

19.

English

D. J.

Edleson

J. L.

Herrick

M. E.

(2005). Domestic violence in one state’s child protective caseload: A study of differential case dispositions and outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review, 27(11), 1183–1201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2005.04.004

20.

Flyvbjerg

(2006). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800405284363

21.

Fong

V. C.

Hawes

Allen

J. L.

(2019). A systematic review of risk and protective factors for externalizing problems in children exposed to intimate partner violence. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 20(2), 149–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838017692383

22.

Friend

Shlonsky

Lambert

(2008). From evolving discourses to new practice approaches in domestic violence and child protective services. Children and Youth Services Review, 30(6), 689–698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2008.01.006

23.

Fusco

R. A.

(2013). “It’s hard enough to deal with all the abuse issues”: Child welfare workers’ experiences with intimate partner violence on their caseloads. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(12), 1946–1953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.09.020

24.

Hamby

Finkelhor

Turner

Ormrod

(2010). The overlap of witnessing partner violence with child maltreatment and other victimizations in a nationally representative survey of youth. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 734–741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2010.03.001

25.

Hardesty

(2015). Epistemological binds and ethical dilemmas in frontline child welfare practice. Social Service Review, 89(3), 455–498. https://doi.org/10.1086/682880

26.

Henry

(2018). Exposure to domestic violence as abuse and neglect: Constructions of child maltreatment in daily practice. Child Abuse & Neglect, 86, 79–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.08.018

27.

Hirschman

Bosk

E. A.

(2019). Standardizing biases: Selection devices and the quantification of race. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649219844797

28.

Hughes

Chau

(2013). Making complex decisions: Child protection workers’ practices and interventions with families experiencing intimate partner violence. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(4), 611–617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.01.003

29.

Janczewski

C. E.

(2015). The influence of differential response on decision-making in child protective service agencies. Child Abuse & Neglect, 39, 50–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.06.006

30.

Jenney

Mishna

Alaggia

Scott

(2014). Doing the right thing? (Re) considering risk assessment and safety planning in child protection work with domestic violence cases. Children and Youth Services Review, 47, 92–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.07.015

31.

Juan

S. C.

Washington

H. M.

Kurlychek

M. C.

(2020). Breaking the intergenerational cycle: Partner violence, child–parent attachment, and children’s aggressive behaviors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(5–6), 1158–1181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517692996

32.

Kennedy

(2013). From collaboration to consolidation: Developing a more expansive model for responding to family violence. Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender, 20(1), 1–31.

33.

Langenderfer-Magruder

Alven

Wilke

D. J.

Spinelli

(2019). “Getting everyone on the same page:” Child welfare workers’ collaboration challenges on cases involving intimate partner violence. Journal of Family Violence, 34(1), 21–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-018-0002-4

34.

Lawson

(2019). Domestic violence as child maltreatment: Differential risks and outcomes among cases referred to child welfare agencies for domestic violence exposure. Children and Youth Services Review, 98, 32–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.12.017

35.

Magen

R. H.

(1999). In the best interests of battered women: Reconceptualizing allegations of failure to protect. Child Maltreatment, 4(2), 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559599004002005

36.

McTavish

J. R.

MacGregor

J. C.

Wathen

C. N.

MacMillan

H. L.

(2016). Children’s exposure to intimate partner violence: An overview. International Review of Psychiatry, 28(5), 504–518. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2016.1205001

37.

Messing

J. T.

Thaller

(2013). The average predictive validity of intimate partner violence risk assessment instruments. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 28(7), 1537–1558. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260512468250

38.

Messing

J. T.

Thaller

(2015). Intimate partner violence risk assessment: A primer for social workers. British Journal of Social Work, 45, 1804–1820. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcu012

39.

Moles

(2008). Bridging the divide between child welfare and domestic violence services: Deconstructing the change process. Children and Youth Services Review, 30(6), 674–688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2008.01.007

40.

Moylan

C. A.

Herrenkohl

T. I.

Sousa

Tajima

E. A.

Herrenkohl

R. C.

Russo

M. J.

(2010). The effects of child abuse and exposure to domestic violence on adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Journal of Family Violence, 25(1), 53–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-009-9269-9

41.

Saldana

(2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.). Sage.

42.

Schwalbe

(2008). Strengthening the integration of actuarial risk assessment with clinical judgment in an evidence based practice framework. Children and Youth Services Review, 30, 1458–1464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2007.11.021

43.

Sternberg

K. J.

Baradaran

L. P.

Abbott

C. B.

Lamb

M. E.

Guterman

(2006). Type of violence, age, and gender differences in the effects of family violence on children’s behavior problems: A mega-analysis. Developmental Review, 26(1), 89–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2005.12.001

44.

Strauss

Corbin

(1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). SAGE.

45.

Tiyyagura

Christian

Berger

Lindberg

(2018). Occult abusive injuries in children brought for care after intimate partner violence: An exploratory study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 79, 136–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.02.003

46.

Victor

B. G.

Henry

Gilbert

T. T.

Ryan

J. P.

Perron

B. E.

(2019). Child protective service referrals involving exposure to domestic violence: Prevalence, associated maltreatment types, and likelihood of formal case openings. Child Maltreatment, 24(3) 299–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559519843605

47.

N. L.

Jouriles

E. N.

McDonald

Rosenfield

(2016). Children’s exposure to intimate partner violence: A meta-analysis of longitudinal associations with child adjustment problems. Clinical Psychology Review, 46, 25–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2016.04.003

48.

Wyant

D. C.

Fraser

M. W.

(2016). Author guidelines for manuscripts reporting on qualitative research. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 7(2), 405–425. https://doi.org/10.1086/685816

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.18 MB

Contradictions and Their Consequences: How Competing Policy Mandates Facilitate Use of a Punitive Framework in Domestic Violence–Child Maltreatment Cases

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material