UNDERSTANDING THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BOTH FAMILY VIOLENCE AND CHILD ABUSE CONCERNS IN THE CHILD PROTECTION CONTEXT

Abstract

The rates of family violence (FV) and child abuse (CA) have been rising worldwide, including within Singapore. Women comprise a disproportionately large number of FV victims. Research highlights the deleterious physical, mental and social impacts of FV and CA on both the women and children affected. Despite the high co-occurrence of FV and CA cases in child protection agencies, there is a dearth of literature on the experiences of women who face both FV and CA concerns and they are generally expected to protect their children from harm while being victims themselves. This study is a qualitative exploratory study that aims to examine the help-seeking behaviour and needs of these women and to explore the challenges that social workers face when working with them. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten social workers from a social service agency. Thematic analysis of the responses elicited the following themes. With regards to help-seeking behaviour, the point at which these women defined FV and CA as a problem, barriers faced in seeking help from formal and informal support, point at which they sought help and the source of support they chose were discussed. The top five needs of these women were related to the ‘financial’, ‘social’, ‘psychological’, ‘housing’, and ‘immigration status’ aspects. The challenges social workers face include higher complexity of cases with co-occurring FV and CA, difficulty in balancing the ‘helper’ and ‘social control’ roles, difficulty in engaging these women’s husbands, systemic barriers, keeping the ‘personal’ and ‘professional’ self separate and ambivalence regarding effectiveness of inter-agency collaboration. This study illustrates the unique and complex factors that influence the experiences of women facing both FV and CA concerns. Social workers in child protection agencies are encouraged to value the efforts of these women to protect their children in their difficult situations. Further research is needed to understand these women’s experiences from their perspectives. It is hoped that the findings can contribute to developing relevant services and policies that better meet the needs of these women.