Child Welfare Workers' Assessments of Suspected Violence in the Context of Family Law Disputes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12569552 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gabriella Alner Knutsson (0009-0000-8973-7137, School of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences Örebro University Örebro Sweden, corresponding author), Åsa Cater (0000-0002-4700-1452, School of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences Örebro University Örebro Sweden) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 1050-1059 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Child & Family Social Work (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1356-7500 • E-ISSN: 1365-2206 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/cfs.70038 |
| OpenAlex | W4413030636 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 43 |
Information about violence in the family can be challenging for child welfare (CW) workers to assess when parents are simultaneously involved in a family law dispute. The aim of this study is to analyse how assessments of suspected violence in the family are described in CW investigations in Sweden when the child's parents are involved in a family law dispute. Text analysis of 32 CW investigations from six municipalities in Sweden was conducted using a version of a multiple case study. Both physical, sexual and psychological violence against the child, including experiencing violence against a parent or a sibling, were included. Our analysis revealed that the CW workers made individual violence assessments. They assessed either that the child had experienced violence, that the presence of violence could not be definitively established, or that the child had not experienced violence. However, even if the main reason to investigate was violence, the CW workers also discussed aspects of the family law dispute, which impacted the final determination and assessment of risks and the child's primary needs. The violence thus sometimes became less important than the parental conflict. It is important for CW workers to be aware of this and to treat violence as no less important than the parental conflict
Child protection · Context (archaeology · Criminology · Demographic economics · Domestic violence · Economics · Environmental health · Family law · Geography · Poison control · Political science · Sociology · Welfare · Child Abuse and Trauma · Child Welfare and Adoption · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Law · Medicine · Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |