Working with Fathers around Domestic Violence: Contemporary Debates

Abstract

This article discusses the issues that emerged from a small consultation exercise with academics and practitioners in the field of domestic violence on their perceptions of practice interventions with fathers who were domestically violent. The exercise suggests that there has been a growth in such interventions especially in the UK over the last decade as a result of the recognition of domestic violence as a child protection issue. There are tensions, however, and these mapped onto tensions between interventions located in working with perpetrators and more recent interventions that have a focus on fathers. More importantly, tensions about what kinds of practice interventions were most desirable were linked to wider debates within practice about the merits of set programmes versus more individualised responses. Respondents expressed concern about the lack of evidence on effectiveness on programmes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages Interventions directed at fathers that seek to tackle their violence towards their partners have grown in the last decade. There are tensions in philosophy that are related to the history of work with men as perpetrators and more recent developments constructing them as fathers. Tensions are also related to differing views on the desirability and efficacy of set programmes versus individualised, flexible approaches incorporating a range of delivery methods and formats. ‘A small consultation exercise with academics and practitioners in the field of domestic violence’ ‘Tensions in philosophy that are related to the history of work with men as perpetrators’