Impact of Domestic Violence Exposure in Early Childhood

1
Impact of Domestic Violence Exposure in Early
Childhood

• Leah Kinnaird, LMSW
• Domestic Violence Liaison to DHS
• Iowa State University

2
Definition of Domestic Violence
3
Definition

• Domestic violence is a pattern of assaultive and
  coercive behaviors including physical, sexual,
  and psychological attacks as well as economic
  coercion that adults or adolescents use against
  their intimate partners. (DHS Manual Title 17,
  Chapter B(3).)

4
Power and Control Wheel
5
Intimidation and Fear
ILLEGAL EXTREME VIOLENT
LEGAL SUBTLE VERBAL
TACTICS
6
Impact of DV on Children

• Research indicates children exposed to domestic
  violence are at an increased risk of being abused
  or neglected, and that a majority of studies
  reveal there are adult and child victims in 30 to
  60 percent of families who experience domestic
  violence - Child Protection in Families
  Experiencing Domestic Violence

7
Prenatal Exposure to Domestic Violence

• Exposure to domestic violence can begin even
  before a child is born. The physical effects of
  this abuse can start when they are in their
  mother's womb, and can result in
• Low infant birth weight
• Premature birth
• Excessive bleeding
• Fetal death (due to mothers physical trauma and
  emotional stress)(Horner, 2005)

8
Children 0-5

• Young children bear a disproportionate share of
  violence and abuse in the home. Exposure to
  domestic violence (abuse between adult partners
  in the home) affects many young children. When
  very young children are exposed to violence,
  their expectations for a predictable world are
  shattered and they may lose the basic trust that
  a caregiver will emotionally and physically
  protect them.

9
Children in this age range may respond in a
variety of ways. They may

• Be irritable or fussy or have difficulty calming
  down
• Become easily startled
• Resort to behaviors common to being younger
  (thumb sucking, bed wetting, or fear of the dark)
• Have frequent tantrums
• Cling to caregivers
• Experience changes in level of activity
• Repeat events over and over in play or
  conversation
• Become passive and lose interest in playing
• Become over-compliant

10
How Trauma Affects Behavior

• Excessive irritability
• Immature behavior
• Sleep disturbances
• Emotional distress
• Fear of being alone

11
How Trauma Interferes with Development

• Impedes normal development of trust and
  exploration which leads to development of
  autonomy
• Regression in previously mastered areas of
  development

12
How Symptoms of Trauma are Displayed

• Repeated experiencing of traumatic event
• Avoidance
• Numbing of affect
• Increased arousal

13
How Children Respond to Witnessing Violence

• Fear of being near the scene where violence took
  place
• Afraid to sleep or having nightmares
• Limited range of emotion during play

14
Childhood Exposure to Domestic Violence
Increases the Likelihood of Children Experiencing

• Failure to thrive
• Caretaker has failed to respond to an infants
  life-threatening condition

(Campbell and Lewandowski, 1997 Graham-Bermann
Seng, 2005)
15
Video
16
Batterers as Parents

• Often use the same tactics to parent as they use
  with partner
• Deliberately undermine relationships between
  family members especially victim and children
• Use children as a weapon against victim
• What factors give children resiliency to cope
  with and heal from abusive situations?

17
Impact of DV on Adult Victim Parenting

• Keeping the peace
• Denial, guilt, emotional distance
• Undermined
• Children inducted into abuse
• Respect eroded
• Higher rates of child abuse, until they gain
  safety
• Resented for leaving
• Feel trapped

18
Resiliency

• DV does not affect all children in the same way.
• The impact of DV on children varies by
• The types, frequency, and severity of tactics
  used by the DV perpetrator
• The age, gender, and development stage of the
  child
• The presence of other risk and protective
  factors
• (Edleson, 2001)

19
Variables that impact whether a child will
overcome the effects of witnessing domestic
violence

• Social Competence
• Intelligence
• High self-esteem and outgoing temperament
• Strong sibling and peer relationships
• Supportive relationship with an adult

20
Context for Childrens Recovery should include

• Sense of Safety
• Structure, limits, predictability
• Strong bond to their primary caretaker Feel that
  adult victim can protect them
• Feel respect for adult victim
• Feel supported in being close to parent
• Not feel responsible to take care of adults
• Good boundaries regarding information
• Feel that parents are healing

21
Treatment for Children

• Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
• Emphasis on improving the quality of the
  parent-child relationship and changing
  parent-child interaction patterns. Ages 2-7
  years.
• Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)
• For children who have experienced at least one
  traumatic event and as a result are experiencing
  behavior, attachment, and/or mental health
  problems. Ages birth through 5.

22
Strategies for Staff

• Create a safe, nurturing environment
• Respond to each childs needs
• Build skills for dealing with challenging
  behavior
• Be prepared to deal with complex (legal)
  situations
• Refer children whose problems are clinically
  significant
• Know how to respond to disclosures from children
• Consult a supervisor, mental health worker, or
  both, when concerns arise

23
Strategies for Programs

• Increase the capacity of all staff to address
• domestic violence
• Educate all parents (including fathers) about the
  impact on children of exposure to community and
  domestic violence, and how to help kids cope
• Develop procedures to respond to the special
  needs of children and families experiencing
  domestic violence
• Become part of a more coordinated response to
  children and families living with domestic
  violence

24
Supporting Families

• Be respectful
• Talk to adult victims about their childs
  disclosures
• Ensure that the adult victim has a safety plan
• Help parents talk to their children about the
  violence

25
Policy

1. Increase the resources meant to ensure that all
   young children (from birth through age six) have
   access to high-quality early care and education
   programs.
2. Target specific resources to ensure that early
   care and education programs have access to
   specialized help so they can respond to special
   needs of young children and families affected by
   DV and other significant stressors.
3. Include competency-based training on DV and
   related risk factors in pre- and in-service early
   childhood professional development strategies.

26
Policy

• 4. Provide incentives and resources at the state
  level for community-based cross-training
  initiatives and collaboration.
• 5. Provide incentives to expand the cadre of
  social workers and psychologists trained to help
  parents, and of direct services workers trained
  to deal with domestic violence and other related
  risk factors.

27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
Help for Parents

• Batterers Education Programming (BEP) Duluth
  model
• Iowa Domestic Abuse Project (IDAP) Achieving
  Change Through Value Based Behavior (ACTV)
• 24/7 Dad and other male parenting programs
• Advocacy Programs through Iowa Coalition Against
  Domestic Violence (icadv.org)
• Caution Couples counseling, individual
  counseling, anger management

31
Resiliency Factors for Adult Victim

• Community and social supports
• Safe housing
• Absence of other outside stressors
• Ability and confidence in accessing agencies and
  systems

32
Whats going on in Iowa?

• The Iowa Department of Human Services is working
  with David Mandel and Associates, LLC to bring
  the Safe and Together Model to Iowas child
  welfare system and its partners.
• Safe and Together is a child-centered,
  perpetrator focused approach to working with
  families and partnering with victims to keep
  children and non-offending parents together when
  possible.
• www.endingviolence.com

33
Whats going on in Iowa

• Support for programs to engage fathers who use
  domestic violence
• New batterers education program being piloted
  across the state Achieving Change Through
  Value-Based Behavior
• Collaboration between child welfare entities and
  domestic violence victim advocacy centers

34
Questions?

• Leah Kinnaird, DV Liaison to DHS, Iowa State
  University
• lkinnai_at_dhs.state.ia.us
• 319-329-4201