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A perpetrator pattern, child centered, survivor strength based approach to the

intersection of domestic violence and child maltreatment

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Domestic Violence Perpetrators

In relationships Parenting •  Controlling

•  Manipulative

•  Undermines parenting

•  Threatening

•  Verbally abusive

•  Possessive

•  Blaming/ Externalizing responsibility

•  More likely (than fathers who aren’t DV perpetrators) to physically and sexually abuse children

•  Authoritarian parenting

•  Passive and permissive parenting

•  Uses children as weapons against partner (ex-partner)

•  Undermines relationship between children and survivor

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High Standards for Parenting

Maintaining high standards for perpetrators’ parenting helps assess parenting more meaningfully

How are perpetrators’ parenting skills or deficits currently assessed?

Parenting Standards for Perpetrators

•  Biological and psychological fathers

•  Emotionally supportive and available parenting

•  Consistent parenting

•  Support educational, medical, service-related and financial needs of children

•  Support the relationship between children and their other parent

•  Connection and nurturance

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Interviewing in DV Cases

Interview family members separately

Assess for coercive control, risk to children and

protective factors

Reassess domestic violence repeatedly with survivors, perpetrators and children

over the life of a case

Stay focused on goals:• Assessing risk over time• Assessing changes to family

dynamics• Evaluating change (if any) in

perpetrators• Evaluating needs for children

The Purpose of Interviewing

NOT a Goal Useful Goals •  Getting a confession

•  Confirming the survivors’ or children’s stories

•  Teaching the perpetrator a lesson

•  Learning about “triggers”

•  Understanding the perpetrator’s side of the story

•  Connecting behaviors to the impact on children

•  Identifying if the perpetrator is willing to make changes/follow recommendations

•  Explaining CPS role

•  Demonstrate high parenting and behavioral expectations

•  Being clear that abuse is not acceptable

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Interviewing Perpetrators

Prepare:

• Multiple Sources of Information

• Confidentiality• Safety• Self as

Interviewer

Engage:

• Frame the purpose

• Solicit information

• Focus on perpetrator’s behaviors and choices

• Ask about the impact on the children

Case Plan:

• Signed agreements

• Services• Focus on

parenting• Behavioral

expectations

Interviewing Tips

Don’t argue

Don’t get caught up in details that don’t

help you discuss children and

behaviors

Maintain a calm, non-judgmental

expression and tone of voice

Trust your instincts about your own

safety

Avoid colluding (the only part they’ll remember, or tell

their family, is that you agree with them)

Don’t engage in a power struggle

(they’re beQer at it than you are)

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Documentation ExampleMr. Patrick has engaged in a pattern of coercive control towards Ms. Daniels that has adversely impacted the children. Mr. Patrick has used physical violence on numerous occasions over the past 5 years, including punching Ms. Daniels, slapping her, and on one occasion strangling her. Mr. Patrick used these acts of violence in front of the children and he posed direct physical harm to the oldest child who has tried to intervene. He has also threatened to take the children away from Ms. Daniels which has led to the children being afraid to be away from their mother. Further, he has undermined Ms. Daniels’ parenting by encouraging his children not to go to school or listen to their mother since he has been out of the home.

Child Focused Interventions•  Intervene directly with the perpetrator

o  Ask him to leave the home

o  Ask him to make decisions based on the children:

•  Keep electric/utilities on

•  Paying rent

•  Returning car

o  Ask him to stay in contact with children’s services

•  Intervene using collaborative partners o  Ask court to implement order of protection

o  Ask probation to do additional sanctions or monitoring

•  Work with children’s providers o  Inform providers of perpetrators’ patterns

o  Ensure providers are making child-focused assessments

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Behavioral Expectations

________________ = Safe Child?

That’s what needs to be expected of perpetrators

BaQerer Intervention Treatment Issues Counseling should focus on stopping the abuse

• Behavior change is the priority

Anger management, couples counseling and individual counseling are problematic with domestic violence perpetrators

Communication between provider and CPS is critical to avoid the baQerer manipulating either party

• Share with program what you know about the ba8erer's pa8ern of coercive control and actions to harm the children.

• Share what your goals for the ba8erer are

Substance treatment is best done at the same time (if possible)

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Evaluating Change

¬ Is his behavior different? – Specifically related to his pattern of coercive

control

¬ Is he able to focus on the needs of his children versus his own needs?

¬ Is able to support the children’s relationship with their mother?

¬ Does he identify his abusive behavior as being wrong?

¬ Can he describe the impact of his abusive behavior on his children?

Safe and Together™ Principles

(c) 2013 David Mandel Associates LLC Do not reproduce or distribute without permission

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Keeping child Safe and Together™ with non-offending parent

Safety Healing from trauma Stability and nurturance

Partnering with non-offending parent as default position Efficient Effective Child-centered

Intervening with perpetrator to reduce risk and harm to child

Engagement Accountability Courts

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Safe and Together™ Critical Components

Perpetrator’s paJern of coercive

control

Actions taken by the perpetrator to

harm the child

Full spectrum of the non-offending parent’s efforts to

promote the safety and well being of

the child

Adverse impact of the perpetrator’s behavior on the

child

Role of substance abuse, mental

health, culture and other socio-

economic factors

(c) 2013 David Mandel Associates LLC Do not reproduce or distribute without permission

Practice Tool: Mapping Perpetrators PaQerns

Fidelity Check

Tool for Supervision

Self-checkTool for Collaboration

Guide for Practice

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Scope of PaQern

•  Full range of behaviors during presenting incident

•  Before, during and after

•  Pattern in current relationship

•  Behaviors in prior relationships

•  Other relevant behavior, e.g. violence in other settings

•  Indirect and direct actions towards children

•  Includes both abuse and neglect

Sources of Information

•  Collateral contacts

•  Family

•  Friends

•  Providers

•  Adult Probation/Court

•  Child welfare records

•  Criminal background check

•  Interviews

•  Adult Survivor

•  Child Survivor

•  Perpetrator

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Implications

•  Worker safety

•  Children o  Child safety and risk assessment

o  Connecting children's emotional, behavioral and other issues to perpetrator's behavior

•  Adult Survivor o  Contextualizing adult survivor decision-making

o  Critical to build a meaning and effective partnership with adult survivor

Implications

•  Perpetrator o  Main areas of focus in interviewing and critical for any family centered

practice approach

o  Setting behavioral case planning goals for the perpetrator

o  Information sharing with providers to enhance effectiveness of treatment

o  Measuring change

•  Practice o  Increases ability to make meaningful connections between the domestic

violence to substance abuse, mental health, culture and other issues

o  Keeping focus on the perpetrator in supervision and meetings

o  Ensuring neglect petitions focus on the source

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Practice•  Increases ability to see intersectionality of domestic

violence substance abuse, mental health, culture and other issues

•  How is the perpetrator pattern connected to his own mental heath and substance abuse issues? o  Is the mental health diagnosis accurate?

o  How did any mental health assessment address the abuse/safety issues?

o  Based on the pattern, what has the perpetrator done/might do to sabotage or undermine treatment of other family members?

o  Are the other family members treatment providers informed about relevant information about perpetrator's pattern?

•  How is does the perpetrator cause, exacerbate or interfere with recovery in issues for other family members, e.g. substance abuse?

Practice

•  Keeping focus on the perpetrator in supervision and meetings o  Effective supervision and meetings related to domestic violence

needs to include a shared understanding of perpetrator's behavior pattern

•  Ensuring neglect petitions focus on the source of the source of the risk and safety concerns related to domestic violence o  Court petitions and other documentation need to paint a picture

of how the perpetrator's behavior are creating the reason for filing.

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Tips

•  List the perpetrator's pattern of behavior on sheet of paper

•  Focus on actions and statements o  When confronted with a result of his behavior or circumstance,

e.g. "mother is estranged from her family as a result of the abuse" ask "how?" What did the perpetrator do or say to create the estrangement?

o  Seek to understand the behaviors associated with terms like "temper issue" and "jealous" or statements like "He doesn't like me going out with friends."

•  "How does he let you know that he doesn't like you going out? What does he do and say?"

Tips•  Make sure to look beyond physical violence to

controlling behaviors •  Include not taking responsibility for prior

violence as part of pattern •  Beware of gender double standards

o  Maintain high expectations of men as parents

o  Use pattern to improve assessment and determine if there is one parent who is a greater concern in “mutual battering” cases

•  Make best use of the information gathered o  Document

o  Share with supervisor/legal

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Safety Issues•  Be transparent with adult survivor and children

about limits of confidentiality/plans to protect information

•  Ask adult survivors to help you assess the impact child welfare involvement will have on her and the children's safety

•  Make sure information from adult survivor and children is handled to ensure safety o  Clearly mark information that might increase danger if disclosed to

perpetrator

•  Safety plan with adult survivor if prior to any disclosure of information to perpetrator

Exposure to the abuse

Using children as a weapon against

the children's other parent

Undermining the other person's

parenting efforts, Accidentally

causing physical harm to children as a result of the violence towards

non-offending parent

Physical/sexual/emotional abuse

or neglect perpetrated

directly against the children.

Secondary effects of baJering on

family

Actions taken by the Perpetrator to Harm Children

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Children are impacted differently by domestic violence. Some children are not impacted in any way

or in any way that can be seen. Some children are deeply traumatized. It is always important to know the

batterer’s specific behavior and learn about the children’s responses to those behaviors case

specifically.

Potential Impact of Perpetrators’ Behaviors on Children

Common Forms of Impact

Regression

Aggression

Overly Mature/”Parentified”

•  Anxiety

•  Fear

•  Sadness

•  Anger

•  Trouble with school

•  Trouble concentrating

•  Disrupted routine

•  Strained relationships

•  Trouble sleeping

•  Changes in eating

•  Behavior changes

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Dating Violence

SCREEN

ASSESS

SAFETY PLAN

• Children who witnessed domestic violence are at a higher risk• Adolescent parents have a high correlation with dating violence• Some children who witnessed domestic violence may fear

intimate relationships

CONSIDERATIONS:

Developmental Needs ChartOn the left of the chart, the basic needs of children at various stages are documented On the right side of the chart, the ways in which domestic violence may impact those needs are documented

Baker/Cunningham (2007)

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Documentation Exercise

•  Using the Developmental Chart think about a domestic violence case you’ve worked on

•  Document the impact on the children and expand on that using the Developmental Chart

•  Document what questions this chart brings up for you about additional impact in those children that we should just looking for