The construction of intimate partner woman abuse in Alberta's child protection policy and the impact on abused mothers and their children
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2009
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Abstract
Although women are most frequently the direct victims of intimate partner violence, there is growing evidence that children exposed to intimate partner woman abuse may also be affected. The increased attention to children's exposure has prompted child protection authorities to make changes to their policies, in an attempt to protect children. Despite the well-intentioned nature of these efforts, they have been criticized for producing negative consequences, such as, re-victimizing battered women, ignoring abusive men, and failing to protect children. Few studies have assessed the impact of these policy changes, especially from the standpoint of abused mothers. This study explores how children's exposure to intimate partner woman abuse has been represented within Alberta child protection policy and the impact on abused mothers and their children. An extensive review of government documents on family violence and children's exposure reveals that Alberta represents children's exposure in problematic ways, including considering all children who witness iolence as suffering eriou and long-lasting harm. Additionally, the Alberta government represents intimate partner woman abuse within a degendered discourse of family violence, in which structural factors are ignored. The study also examines the consequences of such policy representations on mothers and their children through in-depth interviews with 13 mothers who had contact with child protection because of their abuse by intimate partners. Most of the women considered the involvement to be unhelpful, intrusive, and punitive, as they were often treated as bad mothers who could not protect their children. Many experienced tremendous feelings of grief and loss and felt that they had lost their identity as mothers, especially after their children were apprehended. Participants experienced significant levels of stress and anxiety, which frequently resulted in serious health problem . Finally, the women reported that child protection involvement, most notably, the apprehension of their children, had a damaging impact on their children. To conclude the study, I offer an alternative representation that takes a narrower view of children' s exposure as well a a gendered view of intimate partner violence. It is hoped that this alternative representation offer a more useful way of understanding children's exposure to intimate partner woman abuse without punishing women for the behaviours of violent men.
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Bibliography: p. 246-285
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Citation
Nixon, K. L. (2009). The construction of intimate partner woman abuse in Alberta's child protection policy and the impact on abused mothers and their children (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/2320