Leah Kinnaird, LMSW
Domestic Violence Liaison to DHS
Iowa State University

Domestic violence is a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors – including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks as well as economic coercion – that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partners. (DHS Manual – Title 17, Chapter
B(3).)

LEGAL
SUBTLE
VERBAL
Intimidation and
Fear
TACTICS
ILLEGAL
EXTREME
VIOLENT

“Research indicates children exposed to domestic violence are at an increased risk of being abused or neglected, and that a majority of studies reveal there are adult and child victims in 30 to 60 percent of families who experience domestic violence” - Child
Protection in Families
Experiencing Domestic
Violence

Prenatal Exposure to Domestic Violence
• Exposure to domestic violence can begin even before a child is born. The physical effects of this abuse can start when they are in their mother's womb, and can result in:
• Low infant birth weight
• Premature birth
• Excessive bleeding
• Fetal death (due to mother’s physical trauma and emotional stress)(Horner, 2005)

Young children bear a disproportionate share of violence and abuse in the home. Exposure to domestic violence (abuse between adult partners in the home) affects many young children. When very young children are exposed to violence, their expectations for a predictable world are shattered and they may lose the basic trust that a caregiver will emotionally and physically protect them.

Children in this age range may respond in a variety of ways. They may:
• Be irritable or fussy or have difficulty calming down
• Become easily startled
• Resort to behaviors common to being younger
(thumb sucking, bed wetting, or fear of the dark)
• Have frequent tantrums
• Cling to caregivers
• Experience changes in level of activity
• Repeat events over and over in play or conversation
• Become passive and lose interest in playing
• Become over-compliant

• Excessive irritability
• Immature behavior
• Sleep disturbances
• Emotional distress
• Fear of being alone

• Impedes normal development of trust and exploration which leads to development of autonomy
• Regression in previously mastered areas of development

• Repeated experiencing of traumatic event
• Avoidance
• Numbing of affect
• Increased arousal

• Fear of being near the scene where violence took place
• Afraid to sleep or having nightmares
• Limited range of emotion during play

14
Childhood
Exposure to
Domestic
Violence
Increases the
Likelihood of
Children
Experiencing
Failure to thrive:
Caretaker has failed to respond to an infant’s life-threatening condition
(Campbell and Lewandowski, 1997;
Graham-Bermann & Seng, 2005)

• Often use the same tactics to parent as they use with partner
• Deliberately undermine relationships between family members – especially victim and children
• Use children as a weapon against victim
• What factors give children resiliency to cope with and heal from abusive situations?

• Keeping the peace
• Denial, guilt, emotional distance
• Undermined
• Children inducted into abuse
• Respect eroded
• Higher rates of child abuse, until they gain safety
• Resented for leaving
• Feel trapped

DV does not affect all children in the same way.
The impact of DV on children varies by:
• The types, frequency, and severity of tactics used by the DV perpetrator
• The age, gender, and development stage of the child
• The presence of other risk and protective factors
(Edleson, 2001)

Variables that impact whether a child will overcome the effects of witnessing domestic violence:
• Social Competence
• Intelligence
• High self-esteem and outgoing temperament
• Strong sibling and peer relationships
• Supportive relationship with an adult

• Sense of Safety
• Structure, limits, predictability
• Strong bond to their primary caretaker Feel that adult victim can protect them
• Feel respect for adult victim
• Feel supported in being close to parent
• Not feel responsible to take care of adults
• Good boundaries regarding information
• Feel that parents are healing

• Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
Emphasis on improving the quality of the parent-child relationship and changing parent-child interaction patterns. Ages 2-7 years.
• Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)
For children who have experienced at least one traumatic event and as a result are experiencing behavior, attachment, and/or mental health problems. Ages birth through 5.

• Create a safe, nurturing environment
• Respond to each child’s needs
• Build skills for dealing with challenging behavior
• Be prepared to deal with complex (legal) situations
• Refer children whose problems are clinically significant
• Know how to respond to disclosures from children
• Consult a supervisor, mental health worker, or both, when concerns arise

• Increase the capacity of all staff to address domestic violence
• Educate all parents (including fathers) about the impact on children of exposure to community and domestic violence, and how to help kids cope
• Develop procedures to respond to the special needs of children and families experiencing domestic violence
• Become part of a more coordinated response to children and families living with domestic violence

• Be respectful
• Talk to adult victims about their child’s disclosures
• Ensure that the adult victim has a safety plan
• Help parents talk to their children about the violence

1. Increase the resources meant to ensure that all young children (from birth through age six) have access to high-quality early care and education programs.
2. Target specific resources to ensure that early care and education programs have access to specialized help so they can respond to special needs of young children and families affected by DV and other significant stressors.
3. Include competency-based training on DV and related risk factors in pre- and in-service early childhood professional development strategies.

4.
Provide incentives and resources at the state level for community-based cross-training initiatives and collaboration.
5. Provide incentives to expand the cadre of social workers and psychologists trained to help parents, and of direct services workers trained to deal with domestic violence and other related risk factors.

• Batterer’s Education Programming (BEP) – Duluth model
• Iowa Domestic Abuse Project (IDAP) – Achieving
Change Through Value Based Behavior (ACTV)
• 24/7 Dad and other male parenting programs
• Advocacy Programs through Iowa Coalition Against
Domestic Violence (icadv.org)
• Caution: Couples counseling, individual counseling, anger management

• Community and social supports
• Safe housing
• Absence of other outside stressors
• Ability and confidence in accessing agencies and systems

The Iowa Department of Human Services is working with David Mandel and Associates,
LLC to bring the Safe and Together Model to
Iowa’s child welfare system and it’s partners.
Safe and Together is a child-centered, perpetrator focused approach to working with families and partnering with victims to keep children and non-offending parents together when possible.
www.endingviolence.com

• Support for programs to engage fathers who use domestic violence
• New batterer’s education program being piloted across the state: Achieving Change Through Value-
Based Behavior
• Collaboration between child welfare entities and domestic violence victim advocacy centers

Leah Kinnaird, DV Liaison to DHS, Iowa
State University lkinnai@dhs.state.ia.us
319-329-4201