A major new study funded by the Nuffield Foundation has raised concerns about how domestic violence and abuse is understood and responded to within children’s services, warning that current systems often fail to recognise the wider inequalities shaping families’ experiences.
The report, Rethinking Domestic Abuse in Child Protection: responding differently, examines how children’s services respond to domestic abuse and how factors such as poverty, gender, race, ethnicity and age influence both families’ experiences and professional decision-making.
Click here to read the Executive Summary
Researchers found significant gaps in the information collected and used by services and policymakers, alongside limited understanding of the social and economic contexts in which domestic abuse occurs. Despite domestic abuse being widely recognised as a complex social problem, responses were often heavily focused on individual casework with children and mothers experiencing harm, rather than wider structural causes and inequalities.
The study also found that poverty and deprivation increased the likelihood of families experiencing domestic abuse becoming involved with the child protection system. Researchers say the findings add to growing evidence about the relationship between social inequalities and state intervention in family life.
The report highlights frustration among practitioners with existing approaches and identifies a strong appetite for change across the sector. Drawing on the experiences of families and professionals, the study sets out a series of principles to support more effective and socially informed responses to domestic abuse.
The research was led by Kate Morris (University of Sheffield), Brid Featherstone (University of Huddersfield), Rick Hood (Kingston University) and Susannah Bowyer (Research in Practice), in partnership with SafeLives, Future Men and Circles Consultancy.
Emeritus Professor Kate Morris said
We hope that this study provokes much needed change in approaches to domestic abuse and child protection. The study highlights the need to do and think differently in addressing this complex social problem. Without real change children, families and communities will struggle to secure the support that is so desperately needed
Emeritus Professor Featherstone added
This study highlights the need to move beyond individual casework and develop holistic approaches to families to address the systemic inequalities driving their needs and experiences
For media enquiries, contact Emeritus Professor Kate Morris at kate.morris@sheffield.ac.uk
Funders:
The Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance social well-being. It funds and undertakes rigorous research, encourages innovation and supports the use of sound evidence to inform social and economic policy, and improve people’s lives. The Nuffield Foundation is the founder and co-funder of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Ada Lovelace Institute and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory. This project has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation, but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the Foundation. Find out more at:
Bluesky: @nuffieldfoundation.org
LinkedIn: Nuffield Foundation
