Coercive control and situational couple violence: exploring a differential approach to domestic and family violence in child protection practice

Investigator

Ulrike Marwitz (undertaken as a PhD candidate, now completed)

Supervisors

Principal supervisor: Professor Daryl Higgins, Faculty of Education, Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University

Secondary supervisor: Professor Tom Whelan, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University

Aims

• To explore the current approaches to domestic and family violence used by child protection services in Australia.
• To consider whether differentiating between coercive control and situational couple violence may be applicable and beneficial for child protection practitioners and families in which domestic and family violence presents a risk to the safety of children.

Background

Domestic and family violence (DFV) is a significant and common issue in families with child protection involvement. It is commonly one of the key reasons child protection services become involved, or is identified as a co-occurring issue. There is a limited understanding of how child protection practitioners can work effectively with such families to improve the safety and wellbeing of children, particularly in cases where the perpetrator remains in the home or when parents wish to remain together.

Project details

This research was informed by my own experience as a child protection practitioner. It was supported with an extensive literature review and analysis of practice guidance documents, interviews with child protection practitioners, and intake reports. This led me to conclude that not all DFV is characterised by coercive control and that not all DFV is unilateral (i.e., involves only one person using violence or abuse). A substantial proportion of DFV involves both members of a couple using violence and/or abuse. This is commonly known as situational couple violence.

My research found that current approaches to DFV used by Australian child protection departments largely rely on an understanding of DFV as coercive control and, as such, use a one-size-fits-all approach to working with families impacted by DFV.

Method

1. Obtained practice guidance documents from five Australian child protection departments and undertook a discourse analysis.
2. Interviewed child protection practitioners about their experiences with and approaches to working with families impacted by DFV. I used case vignettes to prompt discussion about differing presentations of DFV - some characterised by coercive control, and others characterised by situational couple violence.
3. Analysed a sample of intake reports provided by the South Australian Department for Child Protection. I explored the characteristics of DFV in each family by looking for indicators of either coercive control or situational couple violence.

Findings

The practice guides in current practice encouraged practitioners to assume that in each family there would be a clear victim-perpetrator dynamic and that co-occurring issues such as substance use, and child maltreatment were directly caused by the perpetrators use of DFV. The practice guides did not consider situational couple violence and did not give any consideration to whether and how approaches and interventions used by child protection practitioners should differ depending on the nature and characteristics of DFV.

In contrast, my interviews with child protection practitioners and my case-file analysis found that, although coercive control is common in families with child protection involvement, there are also many families in which DFV is situational in nature.

I also found that families impacted by situational couple violence are often also impacted by a range of co-occurring issues such as substance use, poverty, and child maltreatment (other than DFV) and that the relationship between these issues and DFV is complex.

The findings of my research indicate that using a differential approach to DFV in child protection practice is likely to be beneficial.

Projected community impact

This research can support child protection practitioners to identify the underlying causes of DFV in a family, and to implement targeted supports and interventions that increase the safety and wellbeing of children.

A practice approach that guides a careful and nuanced assessment of the dynamics and impacts of DFV, including an exploration of how co-occurring issues may be linked to DFV, could be beneficial to child protection services and to other community services who work with families and children impacted by DFV.

Publications

Marwitz, U., Higgins, D. J., & Whelan, T. (2024). "Kids are in the middle of it" - Child protection practitioners reflect on indicators of coercive control and situational couple violence. Children and Youth Services Review, 160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107596

Media

Constantinou, M. (2023, 8 March). A safer place for women and children to live. ACU IMPACT. https://www.impact.acu.edu.au/community/a-safer-place-for-women-and-children-to-live

Marwitz, U. (2023, 2 November). Why aren't rates of domestic violence going down? Eureka Street. https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/why-aren-t-rates-of-domestic-violence-going-down

Ethics

2020-133H - Australian Catholic University Human Research Ethics Committee

Project timeline

Completed 2024

Contact

For more information contact: icps@acu.edu.au