Marianne Hester

This fully updated Reader provides a comprehensive review of recent research and legislation relating to domestic violence and its consequences for children, and identifies the implications for practice. It enables professionals to develop informed child care and protection responses for children experiencing domestic violence.

Based on findings from six primary research studies carried out by the authors themselves, as well as other published research, this book reveals how undermining mothering plays a key role in locking women into abusive relationships and exacerbating the damage done by domestic violence.

This book addresses the issue of domestic violence against women, drawing on research findings, policy developments and current debates to contextualise its alarming prevalence and to propose informed ways of addressing, through training and practice, the needs of both victims and perpetrators in current social and related care provision.

Describing some of the innovative work taking place in domestic violence and child protection work, this book looks at how interventions for children exposed to domestic violence are being developed, how services for abusive fathers have evolved and discusses a number of new initiatives in the field of interagency risk assessment.