25 January 2002
Violence & Children
At the Royal Society of Medicine conference: Domestic Violence & Children, (4-5 March 2002):
New findings on teenage violence
Professor David Wolfe, University of Western Ontario, Canada- Empowering youth to develop healthy relationships
Professor Wolfe will report on a new controlled study into
teenagers' behaviour patterns as they start dating. Results
suggest that relationship violence can be reduced and even
prevented if at-risk groups are helped in their mid-teens.
He will describe his Center's Youth Relationships Program,
which the study found to be effective in reducing physical
and emotional abuse and symptoms of emotional distress among
teenagers who had previously been maltreated as children. Since
research shows that many offenders repeat patterns of violence
that they themselves experienced, Professor Wolfe suggests
that a key to breaking the cycle is intervention at adolescence,
when new patterns of relationship behaviour are being learned.
"The
press would be horrified if they could see what's happening
in the family courts"
Ms Hilary Saunders, Women's Aid Federation of England, - Problems that abused women & children face
At the point when a woman leaves an abusive relationship, she
and her children are at the greatest risk of violence from
her partner, warns Ms Saunders. Yet this is when the UK legal
system can actually make the situation worse, because many
parents (usually fathers) with a history of violence and sometimes
even child abuse are being awarded contact orders allowing
them to see their children unsupervised. Ms Saunders claims
that statistics show the situation to be getting worse, and
will explain why organisations like hers are calling for an
amendment in the law beyond the good practice guidelines currently
in place in the family courts. "How can it be right that someone
who has committed an offence against a child can be banned
from driving a school bus, yet can still be granted unsupervised
contact with a child?".
When A&E staff have a duty beyond treating broken bones
Dr Rosalind Roden, St James's University Hospital, Leeds,
- A&E Departments
When someone arrives in casualty as a result of domestic violence,
should medical staff get involved? Dr Roden will argue that
A&E personnel have a duty to offer other kinds of help
besides physical treatment - explaining the patient's rights,
making
phone calls to refuges if necessary, and suggesting alternatives to returning to a violent relationship. She will describe how
she and her colleagues learned how to do this, as part of a
special training programme developed in Leeds. She talks frankly about the change in her own attitudes to domestic violence
after training, and will explain how it is possible, and vital,
to help abused patients find solutions and support, "even in the middle of a busy A&E department on a Saturday night."
Domestic
violence: "one case reported every six minutes"
District Judge Marilyn Mornington, Liverpool- Contact with a aviolent parent: the legal aspects
Judge Mornington calls the UK's response to domestic violence "our ultimate failure", with one woman murdered every three days
and many children killed and injured during legally awarded
contact with a violent parent. She will discuss her work training medics, magistrates, and judges in awareness of the issues
surrounding domestic violence, and the need to get people talking across agencies and professions about how to tackle the root
of the problem and save lives.
How can GPs help?
Dr Judith Shakespeare, Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford - Primary Care
In some ways, GPs are ideally placed to spot domestic violence
and offer advice and help, but it is such a complex area that
primary care workers often feel "torn in several directions at once" warns Dr Shakespeare, herself a GP. Legally, a doctor
has the right to break patient confidentiality if, for example,
a child is at risk from domestic violence, but in practical
terms, referring such cases to other authorities has serious
implications for the doctor/patient relationship and may even
put the patient in more danger of abuse. Dr Shakespeare will
be covering the issues and discussing strategies GPs can use
to prepare themselves for the dilemmas they may face in dealing
with domestic violence.
NB Dr Shakespeare will not be available until the day of the conference
How changes in primary care could root out hidden violence
Dr Sue Peckover, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Sheffield
- Primary Care
Domestic violence can cause more than just short term physical
damage. Symptoms can be hidden in other long-term health or
behavioural problems - anything from eating disorders to suicide.
Dr Peckover will explain why she thinks it is such a crucial
time now, with modernisation on the agenda, for changing the
way domestic violence is handled in primary care. She will
call for Primary Care Trusts to take the chance to be more
upfront about tackling hidden violence, and emphasises that
the shift to a broader, community approach to health improvement
is "an ideal opportunity we have to grasp".
Why do children still have less legal protection against assault than adults?
Ms Veronica Plowden, Children's Rights Alliance for England, London - Empowerment of children: Children's Rights
Children are even more vulnerable to domestic violence than
adults, yet UK law still allows them to be hit because of the "reasonable chastisement" defence. Ms Plowden will discuss why children
still suffer violence in the home, and will call for the government
to bring UK law in line with the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child which it ratified ten years ago. Ms Plowden stresses
the need for the new culture of human rights promised by the
Government when the Human Rights Act became law: "for children
a fundamental culture change is urgently needed".
[ends]
