Do you have any words of wisdom for practitioners beginning to work with fathers who have used violence?
QUESTION 1: Answer 1
Do you have any words of wisdom for practitioners beginning to work with fathers who have used violence?
I think one of the things that can be helpful is really taking the temperature of where an individual or where the team is at and…assess their readiness to engage men around violence.
QUESTION 1: Answer 2
Do you have any words of wisdom for practitioners beginning to work with fathers who have used violence?
[S]ome of us might come with our own preconceived notions, stereotypes, or even fears that are based in reality. It could be that our own personal experience or other jobs that we have had in the criminal justice system have shown us the worse side of domestic violence, and it could be very hard to consider change once you’ve seen that.
QUESTION 1: Answer 3
Do you have any words of wisdom for practitioners beginning to work with fathers who have used violence?
[Have] an open mind and understand that you don't have to make this immediate paradigm shift, but … just test one small strategy to see if it improves your work with a dad. [T]he first step is to really do your own self-assessment to see, ‘do I have any barriers or any type of lens… that may already give me a preconceived notion of what the outcome may be when working with this dad?’
QUESTION 1: Source
From an October 2017 Digital Dialogue with Dr. Johnny Rice II, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Coppin State University and founder of Social Justice Ventures LLC.
QUESTION 2
How would you go about engaging with a father who won't admit his actions and denies the violence?
QUESTION 2: Answer 1
How would you go about engaging with a father who won't admit his actions and denies the violence?
What I find has been more challenging sometimes—on a community level—for an individual who has not been formally charged with an act of domestic violence… is that the individual has to want to change. [I]f they don’t acknowledge that they engaged in domestic violence, the first step is trying to educate them because it could be that they don’t perceive their behavior as domestic violence based on how they were raised—it could be normal to them.
QUESTION 2: Answer 2
How would you go about engaging with a father who won't admit his actions and denies the violence?
When I worked in Baltimore city…it wasn't until when we met with [fathers] and went through peer facilitation and exposed them to another way of understanding family dynamics… that they acknowledged and said ‘Oh, I didn’t know that verbal abuse was also abuse; I didn't know that action of mine was physical abuse.’
QUESTION 2: Source
From an October 2017 Digital Dialogue with Dr. Johnny Rice II, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Coppin State University and founder of Social Justice Ventures LLC.
QUESTION 3
How does what you've learned through the Polyvictimization Demonstration Initiative guide prevention priorities?
QUESTION 3: Answer 1
How does what you've learned through the Polyvictimization Demonstration Initiative guide prevention priorities?
Phillips: We’ve seen a shift in the paradigm. It’s no longer just crisis intervention and event based. We’re looking at the whole person holistically over their entire lifespan and moving from being a domestic violence advocate or a child advocate to being a trauma advocate and being able to assist with healing over the lifespan.
QUESTION 3: Answer 2
How does what you've learned through the Polyvictimization Demonstration Initiative guide prevention priorities?
Aguirre: In our work at Family Justice Centers, because we largely work with the parent or the adult survivor, we focus on prevention by working with the whole family to ensure that we’re breaking the cycle of violence, and providing education to prevent something from happening again. [W]e’ve taken it as a learning lesson as to how we can build these hope-centered programming and interactions with survivors, and what that information will provide us for moving forward from the policy angle or to increase our capacity to serve survivors.
QUESTION 3: Source
From a December 2018 Digital Dialogue with Natalia Aguirre, National Director of the Family Justice Center Alliance at the Alliance for HOPE International; and Stacy Phillips, Program Manager for the Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime.
QUESTION 4
My program is working with the parents who are mandated to take parenting classes. I can see that the parents have been exposed to the same traumas that their children are now experiencing. It is difficult to educate the parents about these issues in their children, when they are victims themselves. Where do we begin?
QUESTION 4: Answer 1
My program is working with the parents who are mandated to take parenting classes. I can see that the parents have been exposed to the same traumas that their children are now experiencing. It is difficult to educate the parents about these issues in their children, when they are victims themselves. Where do we begin?
Phillips: These issues are best addressed through a two-pronged approach. First, addressing the parents and their trauma is critical. That should include psychoeducation, raising awareness, and then supporting parents in processing and healing from their trauma. In addition, we have seen success in giving parents skills for parenting their children who have trauma. Sometimes through these trainings—and understanding how trauma works and its effects—a parent can connect the dots about their own life.
QUESTION 4: Answer 2
My program is working with the parents who are mandated to take parenting classes. I can see that the parents have been exposed to the same traumas that their children are now experiencing. It is difficult to educate the parents about these issues in their children, when they are victims themselves. Where do we begin?
Finally, for the children, it is really about providing healing and ongoing support. We know that the cycle of violence for many people continues, especially when they are polyvictims. Ensuring that the systems the children are interacting with are coordinating and providing preventive services and support is critical to breaking the cycle of violence.
QUESTION 4: Source
From a December 2018 Digital Dialogue with Natalia Aguirre, National Director of the Family Justice Center Alliance at the Alliance for HOPE International; and Stacy Phillips, Program Manager for the Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime.
QUESTION 5
Can the relationship with children's mothers be a challenge?
QUESTION 5: Answer 1
Can the relationship with children's mothers be a challenge?
Often, people assume that if they just add a fatherhood program or fatherhood resources, they can help a father independently gain greater access to his kids and become more involved in their lives. Many times, no matter how great a father becomes in terms of developing pro-fathering knowledge, attitudes, and values, a mother or other primary caregiver can prevent access to his children.
QUESTION 5: Answer 2
Can the relationship with children's mothers be a challenge?
Unnecessarily restrictive gatekeeping is when the mother either consciously or unconsciously restricts a father’s access to his children when it’s not necessary. There are some cases, of course, when the father might be a danger to the mother or to the child, but in the vast majority of cases, that’s not what’s happening. Often, anger or some other conflict has caused the mother to act in this particular way. It’s really important to provide resources and even programming for mothers that are specifically designed to increase father involvement.
QUESTION 5: Source
From a June 2018 Digital Dialogue with Christopher Brown, President of the National Fatherhood Initiative.
QUESTION 6
What are the unintended consequences from the misuse of the term "toxic stress?"
QUESTION 6: Answer
What are the unintended consequences from the misuse of the term "toxic stress?"
Although the idea of toxic stress has helped to raise awareness of and bring more resources to early childhood issues, it also has resulted in problematic language and imagery depicting children, families, or entire communities as “broken,” lacking in resilience, or beyond healing.
QUESTION 6: Source
From a March 2019 Digital Dialogue with Cailin O’Connor, Senior Associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy.
