Children Of Battered Women Analysis

Lorenzo 'Shakes' Carcaterra was a boy from Hell’s Kitchen, New York, in the 1960’s. Shakes is of Italian decent and lives with his father and mother in a small apartment. Lorenzo’s father worked long hours for little pay and was quick to anger and used violence to control the household. Shakes witnessed the physical and emotional abuse of his mother. He never confronted his father, but always tried to play the peacekeeper between the two. Shakes mother was not fluent in English and had a hard time connecting to the community and her son. The trauma that Shakes went through because of the domestic violence shaped his psychological and social development. Shakes was a resilient kid and sought social support from three boys: Thomas "Tommy" Marcano, Michael Sullivan, John Reilly and various other men in his community.

This article provides a good introduction for practitioners working with children who witness family violence. The article summarizes the effects domestic violence can have on children such as; aggressiveness, depression, anxiety, learning disabilities, and sleep deprivation. The author stresses the importance of proper identification and assessment of children exposed to domestic violence. There are four goals of intervention described in this article: reducing the child’s sense of isolation, helping children to understand their

(Brescoll & Graham-Bermann, 2000, p.2). Another mental health problem that children who have witnessed domestic violence experience is adjustment problems. There appears to be a wide spread belief that children who witness violence between their parents are at a greater risk of later adjustment difficulties that may include behavior problems (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998, p.3). Young people reporting high levels of exposure to inter-parental violence had elevated rates of adjustment problems by age eighteen (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998, p.1). It is suggested that there are elevated rates of behavioral, emotional, and other problems in children exposed to inter-parental violence (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998, p.3). There seems little doubt that children reared in homes characterized by inter-parental violence were at greater risk of later adjustment difficulties as young adults (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998, p.11). It is quite apparent that there is a link between the witnessing of domestic violence and the mental health problems of the children who witness it.

Mullender et al. (2002) highlighted the fact that although most children manage to remain strong throughout the violence, their mothers were highly aware of the psychological and behavioural consequences it had had upon their children, such as being left with a trauma disorder (Chemtob and Carlson, 2004) along the lines of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (McCloskey and Walker, 2000). Whilst the children were able to display large amounts of ingenuity and adaptability, many children showed signs of being “withdrawn; fearful and anxiety; nightmares and disturbed sleep; becoming overly compliant or aggressive” Mullender et al. (2002, pg 78), with Thiara (2010) acknowledging that ‘selective mutism’ was another common effect that domestic violence had upon children. It was also observed that the children who dealt the least well were the ones where they have experienced longer term violence, where there was a “severe depletion of the mother’s physical and emotional resources” (Mullender et al., 2002, pg 94) and where the family had moved house many times.

The effects of intimate partner violence are attenuating and extend far beyond physical scarring. The abuse of woman and children has been researched extensively by Rachel Pain (2014, p. 536) as acts of “terrorism within the home”. If we are to compare the experience of women and children living in violent homes and the act of ‘terrorism’ itself we get a corresponding experience (Pain, 2014, p. 546). The construction of fear, the loss of identity, the ongoing distress of constantly feeling unsafe, isolated from all support networks are the surreal and ongoing daily struggles for domestic violence victims. Living in such horrific conditions has immense physical and psychological effects on those directly exposed or indirectly exposed to such violence. Through this research the links between domestic violence and ill health has been well-established. In an attempt to combat this prevalence element two of It Stops Here (NSW): a “streamlined referral pathways to support victims’ safety and support their recovery” was introduced (NSW Government, 2014, p. 18). Through this second element, there has been a strong focus on being able to better identify risk and supporting victims. From the inquest inquiry into Luke’s death, Coroner Ian Grey stated that "I find that there is no validated risk-assessment tool that can accurately predict whether a parent is likely to commit filicide." (ABC News, 2015). In an attempt to close the gap on such issues in July 2015 It Stops Here (NSW)

Sixty percent of adults report experiencing abuse or other difficult family circumstances during childhood. (Mental Health Connection, N.D.). This shocking statistic exemplifies the high prevalence of childhood trauma. Furthermore, twenty-six percent of children in the United States will witness or experience a traumatic event before the age of four. (Mental Health Connection, N.D.) Trauma is an extremely common and complex phenomenon. But what is trauma? According to Merriam Webster, trauma is defined as, “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury.” (Merriam Webster, 2017). Dr. Lenore C. Terr from the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of America further describes trauma as unique to each individual. It can be caused by a series of events or one severe incident. Unfortunately, childhood trauma is usually experienced repeatedly. For example, many children endure sexual abuse, bullying, and severe family problems over and over again. Children may experience a variety of traumas that have lasting consequences on their mental health. Those who experience childhood trauma are more likely to develop psychological disorders. This occurs because their brains lack neuroplasticity, which inhibits their ability to adapt to various stressful circumstances.

After many studies researchers have confirmed that when children are exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) it significantly effects their social emotional development (Hughes & Chau, 2013; Herman-Smith, 2013). This raises a concern; if IPV was to be measured emotional abuse should children be removed from their families. If we consider that the majority of children that witness IPV are under six and would not be able to fully understand what is happening we can conclude that they would not be able to report their maltreatment (Hughes & Chau, 2013). If either partner also chooses not to report the abuse it may continue and it would impact the child; the child could experience mental and behavioral problems. Therefore programs should be

“American Psychiatric Association defines trauma as an event that represents a threat to life or personal integrity. Trauma can also be experienced when children are faced with a caregiver who acts erratically, emotional and /or physical neglect, and exploitation” (Maltby, L., & Hall, T. 2012. p. 304). Trauma comes in many different forms including: war, rape, kidnapping, abuse, sudden injury, and

In the Journal of Traumatic Stress, the article “Stress Among Young Urban Children Exposed to Family Violence and Other Potentially Traumatic Events” by Cindy A. Crusto of Yale University School of Medicine, Melissa L. Whitson of the University of New Haven, Sherry M. Walling of Fresno Pacific University, Richard Feinn of the University of Connecticut Health Sciences Center, Farmington, Stacey R. Friedman of the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER), Jesse Reynolds of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, Mona Amer of the American University at Cairo, and Joy S. Kaufman of Yale University School of Medicine takes a look at traumatic events experienced by children

My biological father was always in and out of prison and my step father died when I was 6. I don’t really remember things being bad, but things changed drastically when I was 13. My dad got his own place and I started staying over there at the weekends. He only had one bedroom, so I used to stay in his bed with him. That’s when the abuse started. He would touch me and put his hand up my top. I remember him touching my back and going further down. The abuse continued for about 3 or 4 months. It stopped when I told my mother he’d hurt me. I didn’t said what he’d done but she didn’t allowed me to see him again. I was so scared and confused. It changed my life for ages. We reported my father to the police but there wasn’t enough evidence to convict

As a survivor of domestic violence, they are still at risk for several mental health issues. These mental health issues include, but are not limited to, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. There are not a lot of studies on the impact of domestic violence, but (Symes, Maddoux, McFarlane, Nava, Gilroy, 2014) states, Emerging evidence suggests an intergenerational effect of abuse to the mother on behavioural functioning of the child (p. 2910). There are lasting consequences for children who witness domestic violence whether it’s visibly or audibly. Seeing your mother, father, or guardian being abused has a huge impact on their lives as adults. Some see domestic violence as a cycle. Some children get stuck in a cycle and grow up repeating the actions of the perpetrator. These children tend to have elevated levels of aggression, hostility, depression, anger and some just withdraw from those around them. Some children tend to suffer from boughts of anxiety, develop sleep disorders, and start having nightmares. According to (Young, Lehman, Faherty & Sandefer, 2016), because domestic violence can have serious negative consequences for children, it is essential that professionals who serve children receive training to help them better understand the dynamics of these relationships and how to identify and respond to child victims. (p. 672). According to (Triplett, White, Gainey, 2013), ‘‘A premise is that faith-based groups will be better able to enlist and

Abstract: There are certain vulnerabilities that leads to a person’s decision to live with the physical and mental abuse that takes place among male and female dating partners, same sex partners, and married couples. During this research, I was able to relate to how these vulnerabilities ultimately lead to many of the domestic violence survivors’ decisions to stay in their abusive relationships.

This article ignited the relationship between man and women who has encountered abusive behavior at home and psychological wellness issues there tends to be a disconnection between aggressive behavior at home and support for emotional wellness. While exploring venture embracing qualities based way to deal with recuperation and aggressive behavior at home and psychological wellness affect the lives of women. Ladies survivors' qualities and posttraumatic development with regards to aggressive behavior at home remains an impressively under researched zone and the investigation gives new bits of knowledge into embracing qualities based system by utilizing a technique. Findings broaden current learning about the obstructions and facilitators to

The article also talks about different traumatic situations that a child experiences that can cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, aside from being a witness to domestic violence. These other incidents include being kidnapped, witnessing a death in the family, serious accidents and being physically or sexually abused themselves (Meltzer et al., 2009). Along with that, the factors that are intertwined with the abuse, which lead to the likelihood of a child being exposed to the violence were:

Domestic violence affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men (NCADV, 2015). Although the devastating effects that domestic violence has on women are well known, there is a population of domestic violence victims that we tend to overlook. These are the children of the women and men who are in domestic violence situations. Children are the invisible victims when it comes to domestic violence. There are many statistics being thrown around when it comes to the number of children who are exposed to domestic violence; they range from as little as 200,000 to even 3-18 million (Sousa et. al., 2011). A 2001 study discovered that in 75% of the cases in their study, children were present in the home during the assaults (Hutchison & Hirschel, 2001).