Children and Family Violence: The Unnoticed Victims

• NCJ Number: 159420
• Author(s): G M Maxwell
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 16 pages
• Sale Source: New Zealand Office of the Commissioner for Children
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: New Zealand
• Note: New Zealand Office of the Commissioner for Children Occasional Paper No. 3.

Annotation

Data recorded by the Hamilton Abuse Intervention Pilot Project (Haipp) offered an opportunity to explore further the involvement of children in incidents of family violence in New Zealand.

Abstract

From the written files, researchers were able to create a computer database of 528 records of police incidents collected by Haipp between July 1991 and April 1994. This included all police incidents that involved a physical assault in a family or people in a close relationship and on which Haipp Advocate Forms had been collected. From the database it was possible to determine whether or not the victims of family violence had children in their care who were present and who were caught up in the violence, the type of violence that the children witnessed and experienced, and how the children reacted at the time. This paper presents these results, discusses the possible longer term effects of the violence on these children, and suggests options to protect the children more effectively. The principals involved in the violent incidents were often parents who were caring for children; in at least 62 percent of incidents in the sample, the victim was a parent of children under 17 years old. Children were present in the house while the violence was occurring in 87 percent of the incidents in which their parent was the victim. They usually witnessed the violence, or at least heard it. Sometimes the children became directly involved in the incident by trying to intervene (10 percent) or by seeking help (6 percent); in nearly 1 in 5 incidents, the children were themselves the targets either principally or as well; unborn children were attacked while in their mothers; babies were punched by mistake or thrown from their mother's arms; children were belted and punched; and threats were made to take them away or to hurt them. It is time to ensure that New Zealand takes the same steps necessary to ensure the safety of children in homes where there is family violence that it has put in place to protect the safety of women. Issues of safety must be addressed for children for whom a change of placement, custody, or access is being considered. 3 tables and 12 references