Assess Impacts on Child of Exposure to Family Violence

Being exposed to ongoing arguments and violence between parents is a risk factor for a child to develop mental health problems. This chapter summarises changes made recently to Australia’s Family Law Act to improve protection for children involved in child custody cases. The chapter summarises hypotheses examined in research about precise mechanisms by which family violence harms children. It is proposed that knowing these mechanisms helps parents to see how they need to change their parenting practices, and can be used to guide therapy. Criteria used to guide judicial officers when making orders about parent–child access to ensure that contact is safe for a child are summarised. One therapy approach when a child has been exposed to family violence involves reparation therapy. A checklist is provided to help therapists to identify impacts a child has actually experienced from witnessing family violence, that can be used to guide reparation therapy.