The Role of Child Protection Services in Preventing Child and Adult Domestic Homicides: Missed Opportunities and Barriers to Change
Abstract
This dissertation involves three studies exploring the risks children face living with domestic violence (DV) and the critical role of child protection services (CPS) in assessing risk in DV cases. The first study examined the involvement of CPS before domestic homicides cases as reviewed by the Ontario Domestic Violence Death Review Committee (DVDRC). One in five of the homicide cases where children were present in the family system had prior involvement with CPS. The underlying themes of DVDRC recommendations directed to the child welfare sector highlighted the need for enhanced ongoing services to promote safety and hold perpetrators accountable, specialized DV training, and increased cross-sector collaboration. Findings emphasized the need for continued efforts to develop community awareness and collaborations to assess and manage risk.
Study two utilized data from an online survey of 138 Ontario child protection workers (CPWs) on their risk assessment and safety planning practices with DV cases. Assessing and managing risk was frequently and consistently completed across the province; however, the specific strategies and identified challenges varied. CPWs mostly utilized CPS mandatory tools to assess risk. Some CPWs added their clinical judgment or use of other standardized DV risk assessment tools, based on training and experience with DV cases. Emphasis was placed on consistently working collaboratively with families and professionals in other sectors to address risk.
Study three built on the survey in study two through in-depth interviews with 29 Ontario CPWs to examine their perspectives on assessing risk with families where DV is the primary concern. CPWs identified numerous barriers at the systemic (i.e., challenges with collaboration), organizational (i.e., lack of written policies or procedures specific to DV), and individual (i.e., worker-client relationship barriers, high caseloads, lack of ongoing training) levels. Encouragingly, some CPWs identified a diverse range of promising practices in overcoming barriers and engaging with victims and perpetrators.
Overall, the findings from these studies suggest that child protection can play a key role in assessing and responding to risk factors related to serious harm or homicide. There are multiple warning signs that should trigger CPS involvement to collaboratively manage risk. CPS can be a more effective part of an overall coordinated community response that promotes awareness, specialized training, assessment tools and intervention strategies for high-risk DV cases that threaten the lives of parents and children.