NCJ Number
180632
Date Published
1998
Length
196 pages
Annotation
This volume analyzes efforts of the most progressive social service agencies in the United Kingdom to develop effective policy and practice guidelines related to domestic assault by men against women; it argues both that social work agencies should have primary responsibility for this issue and that the necessary statutory framework already exists.
Abstract
A survey of 156 local governments in England and Wales revealed that few social service departments have developed effective guidelines for policy and practice on this issue. Thus, local governments have somehow overlooked a significant problem for a considerable time. However, the problem of domestic violence is central to the statutory responsibilities of local government. Clear connections exist between domestic violence and child protection concerns and between domestic violence and the mental health needs of women as women and as careers of children. Nevertheless, social work organizations are gendered in their characteristic practices and assumptions. An anti-sexist social work response to domestic violence will develop only if the very structures and cultures of social work departments change. The most coherent and comprehensive policy documents have demonstrated what is possible if a local government is committed to protecting women and children from violent men. Treatment programs for abusive men have developed in criminal justice settings and other settings; these programs need to be accountable to women. Finally, interagency cooperation seems to be crucial to the development of an effective community-wide response to the problem of domestic violence; the problems generated by differences in culture between statutory and voluntary agencies need attention. Overall, the development of effective prevention and needs-led services will require a radical redistribution of gendered power. Index and 183 references