Cambridge Core Blog - Article of the Month
Treating the Whole Family When Child Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence Occurs
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global health and mental health issue. When children are involved, their own mental health and safety may be at risk. Even very young children under the age of 5 may show signs of developmental regression in environments where IPV is present. Children’s Services in the UK, much like Child Protective Services (CPS) in the United States, have reported increases in IPV among the families they support, often resulting in children being placed in out-of-home care. Without treatment that addresses the entire family, resolving safety concerns and supporting healing for both adults and children may not occur.
The scale of the issue, and the desire to offer effective services for the whole family, led the Department of Children and Families in Connecticut, USA (equivalent to local authority Children’s Services in the UK), to ask my colleague, Dr. Cindy Schaeffer, and me to develop a model that would address the co-occurring challenges of IPV and child maltreatment.
