Abstract
Children with disability are known to experience violence at higher rates than children without disability. However, in-depth qualitative research with children, their families and practitioners has been missing from Australia’s national conversation on children with disability and domestic and family violence (DFV).
This report presents findings from Phase 2 of a larger project “Connecting the dots: Understanding the domestic and family violence experiences of children and young people with disability within and across sectors”. Phase 2 extends on the prevalence data captured in Phase 1 to develop a richer picture of the lives and needs of young victims and survivors, their families and the practitioners working with them across services.
To add this depth to the conversation, the research team spoke with 36 children and young people between eight and 20 years old, 14 family members and 46 practitioners working across disability, advocacy, DFV, health and family support services.
The research team found that children and young people with disability:
•are first and foremost children with interests, humour, contributions and relationships
•often know more about violence and safety than adults assume
•can be destabilised, isolated and traumatised by violence.
Participants also identified what effective service delivery could look like, naming a number of attributes such as practitioner consistency, flexible use of supports and disability-informed practice.
Largely children, young people and families expressed that these characteristics were not replicated in the services they were receiving.
Overarchingly, the research found support seemed to be in place because of the initiative taken by key people in their lives (mothers, mainly). A significant amount of advocacy and persistence was needed, often over years, for most of the children and young people in this study to receive a reasonable level of support.
This report presents findings from Phase 2 of a larger project “Connecting the dots: Understanding the domestic and family violence experiences of children and young people with disability within and across sectors”. Phase 2 extends on the prevalence data captured in Phase 1 to develop a richer picture of the lives and needs of young victims and survivors, their families and the practitioners working with them across services.
To add this depth to the conversation, the research team spoke with 36 children and young people between eight and 20 years old, 14 family members and 46 practitioners working across disability, advocacy, DFV, health and family support services.
The research team found that children and young people with disability:
•are first and foremost children with interests, humour, contributions and relationships
•often know more about violence and safety than adults assume
•can be destabilised, isolated and traumatised by violence.
Participants also identified what effective service delivery could look like, naming a number of attributes such as practitioner consistency, flexible use of supports and disability-informed practice.
Largely children, young people and families expressed that these characteristics were not replicated in the services they were receiving.
Overarchingly, the research found support seemed to be in place because of the initiative taken by key people in their lives (mothers, mainly). A significant amount of advocacy and persistence was needed, often over years, for most of the children and young people in this study to receive a reasonable level of support.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | Sydney, NSW |
| Publisher | Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS) |
| Number of pages | 100 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1-922645-61-6 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-1-922645-50-0 |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2022 |
Keywords
- family violence
- domestic violence
- children
- young people
- disability
- DFV
