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Children's Resource Brochures
In May 2007, the WRRC distributed four children’s age appropriate resource brochures (see below) to WRM refuges, designed and adapted by the WRRC Exeutive Officer Cat Gander to give to mothers when they arrive at the refuge.
They outline:
- the development attributes of the child in relation to their age
- how they may have experienced the violence in relation to their age
- how they might be feeling now if the mother has left their home and the violent partner and
- ideas on how mothers can help their child/ren
Sometimes mothers and possibly workers attribute even normal developmental behaviors to an affect of domestic violence. An example of this might be a 2 year old hitting other children or being frightened to sleep with out a light.
The brochures will give the mother information on some of the normal developments that can be attributed to their child’s age along with how children at different ages may experience or be affected by domestic violence. Most importantly the resource starts to talk about some of the things that mothers can do to help their children.
For over a decade there has been an ongoing education campaign on the ‘list’ of effects that domestic violence can have on children. It was very important to establish that children are affected by domestic violence. But the ‘list’ tends to lump all children together and can give a grim outlook for their future. Furthermore it makes mothers feel guilty that their children are damaged and doesn’t empower them to help heal their children. The brochures are an attempt at trying to add another layer to the way we support mothers to and their children.
Services have been encouraged to set up some simple internal processes to integrate the feedback mother’s give from the brochure into the mother and/or child’s case plan.
Evaluation of the NSW WRM Women's Family Law Support Service released