CHILDREN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Imagine what children exposed to domestic violence must see and hear: fists hitting flesh, screaming, cursing, threatening, crying, objects flying, siblings cowering. All of these experiences can have profound consequences for the child's physical, mental and emotional health. And a sizeable percentage of the 3 to 10 million children who are exposed to violence between their parents each year may find themselves in the child welfare system as a result of the violence.
As child welfare professionals have learned more about the impact of violence on children, their willingness to intervene on these children's behalf has grown. Ensuring that these interventions are attentive to the needs of children exposed to violence and their battered parents is essential. Across the country, child welfare professionals, domestic violence advocates and courts are coming together to discuss the needs of these families and develop sensitive, effective interventions.
The Center on Children and the Law, with the support of the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, has focused on the role of attorneys in these efforts. How can lawyers ensure that children and battered parents are kept safe and, whenever possible, together, and that batterers are held accountable for the violence they do? This site is part of the effort to provide lawyers with the information they need to improve practice in cases involving domestic violence and child maltreatment.
