Social work with violent men: a child protection file study in an English local authority

This paper reports on a study of 40 child protection case files that were open in an English local authority in 2007. The study aimed to explore continuities and change in the engagement of men in the child protection system in England. The files recorded that 63 men were involved in the lives of the 71 children who were the focus of the child protection concerns. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the minutes of the initial child protection meeting, strategy meetings, professional reports and the first review meeting. The study found high levels of violence in the cases and domestic violence was the most common reason for convening an initial child protection meeting. In common with earlier studies, men were found to be much less engaged in the child protection process than women, domestic violence was underplayed and little attention was paid to men's practical caring skills. Possibly as a result of changes to definitions of child abuse in recent years, this study also found that domestic violence may be used as a lever to initiate child protection processes where there are other concerns and that much more attention was paid to the likely emotional and physical impact of violence on children than on women. It was also found that violent men in this small sample were more likely to be engaged by professionals than men about whom there was no record of violence. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.