Child Welfare & IPV Presentation

PRESENTATION BY

RONDA JOHNSON

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

SAN FRANCISCO HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY

FAMILY & CHILDREN’S SERVICES

11-18-25

IPV DEFINITION

Intimate partner violence includes circumstances in which one person chooses a pattern of behavior that exerts coercive power and control over the other person.

As a result, family functioning is disrupted, and the child is or may be adversely impacted. The perpetrator’s pattern of behavior may include physical violence, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, constraining family or social relationships, controlling finances, undermining the victim’s parenting, sobriety, or mental health, disrupting housing or creating housing instability, or any other behavior that has the impact of gaining power over or control of the victim.

CHILD WELFARE DEFINITION

A Parent's action/inaction that impacts their child.

Safety Definition

Safety is:

Actions of protection taken by the caregiver that mitigate the danger demonstrated over time.

(Adapted from Boffa, J., and Podesta, H. (2004) Partnership and risk assessment in child protection practice,

Protecting Children, 19(2): 36–48. Turnell, Andrew & Susie Essex Working with Denied Child Abuse, Open University Press, 2006.)

Structured Decision Making (SDM)

  1. Intake – Hotline Tool
  2. Safety
  3. Risk
  4. Family Strengths & Needs
  5. Risk Reassessment
  6. Reunification Reassessment

Hotline Tool

Physical Abuse:

  • Non-accidental or suspicious injury: Injuries caused to a child during a domestic violence incident.
  • Caregiver action that likely caused or will cause injury: Dangerous behavior toward the child or in immediate proximity of the child, including violence by one or more adult household members occurring while the child is present in ways that the child could be physically injured. Consider combination of child location, type of incident (e.g., pushing, throwing objects, use of a weapon), and child vulnerability.

Emotional Harm Related to Domestic Violence:

  • The child has experienced, or is likely to experience, emotional harm related to exposure to domestic violence. The child may exhibit harm through symptoms of depression, significant anxiety or withdrawal, or self-destructive or aggressive behavior from witnessing or intervening in physical altercations, serious verbal threats, coercion, or intimidation by one adult household member against another.

SAFETY ORGANIZED PRACTICE – INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE(SOP/IPV) FRAMEWORK

 

3 CORE VALUES OF SOP/IPV

  1. Partner with the survivor to keep children with them.
  2. Maintain focus on the various types of harm caused by the perpetrator.
  3. Intervene with the perpetrator to reduce danger.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

  • Hold the perpetrator accountable for behavior changes.
  • Besides causing physical injuries, the perpetrator’s behavior also has other effects on their child, survivor, and household functioning.
  • Stay humble and assess cultural considerations.
  • Shaming the survivor does not help.
  • The survivor has protected the children in the past. Find out how.

Assessing the Survivor

  • Assess the level of danger & lethality.
  • Align with the survivor through acknowledgement of their role as a parent, affirm and validate acts of protection that the survivor has already taken to ensure the safety of their child.
  • Gather information about who used violence and coercive control.
  • Identify the parenting role each partner plays in household functioning regardless of the relationship status.
  • Focus on perpetrator’s actions and impact: list how the perpetrator’s behavior patterns and coercive control harmed the child or interfered with the survivor’s parenting.
  • Explore acts of protection: specifically list all reasonable efforts the survivor has made to protect the child during and after each episode of violence.
  • Discuss survivor’s vision for future safety: explore any periods in the survivor’s life where no harm or danger was present, and the parents, community partners, relatives, friends, or law enforcement were providing safety for the child.

Assessing the Perpatrator

  • Assess the level of danger & lethality.
  • Assess how their behavior affects the child, household functioning and the survivor.
  • Gather information regarding the perpetrator’s pattern of coercion and control, including an assessment of their willingness, ability, and capacity to change in order to stop harm to survivor and children.
  • Explore their history of relationships with others to assess for patterns of violence. If they start recanting or denying their actions, keep the focus on the children and the perpetrator’s choices and actions as a parent that harmed the children and the family.
  • What is perpetrator willing to do to create immediate safety for their children? Who is in their support network that they are willing to reach out to?
  • What behavior changes are they willing to make, including participation in services that can focus on behavior change that can be demonstrated over time.

Assessing the Child

  • When interviewing children who have witnessed/experienced IPV, consider the following factors when observing reactions, symptoms, and level of risk:
  • Age, developmental stage, and cognitive ability of the child.
  • Children must be interviewed separately from the perpetrator.
  • Inquire about the child’s actions and responses during past instances of IPV. Who do they reach out to for help?

Support Network

  • No Network, No Safety.
  • Talk to as many collaterals as possible who know the family best.
  • Gather information to understand the perpetrator’s behavior patterns and impact on the child, household functioning, and the survivor.
  • Advocate for the survivor and educate relatives and others in the family’s network about the perpetrator’s pattern of coercive control.
  • Discuss their worries, what they see is working well (survivor strengths), and ideas for next steps.
  • Explore their role in past actions of protection and what they are willing and capable of doing to support this family in building future safety. For example, placement of the child with members of the support network who are willing to hold the perpetrator accountable for their behavior.

PLANNING FOR SAFETY

  • Safety Assessment – Structured Decision Making Tool
  • Safety Planning

QUESTIONS?

END OF SLIDESHOW