Separation, inter-parental conflict, and family and domestic violence: Impact and support needs

1 Acknowledgements: This research uses unit record data from Growing Up in Australia, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. LSAC is conducted in partnership between the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The findings and views reported are those of the authors and should not be attributed to DSS, AIFS, or the ABS. Jan M. Nicholson, Cattram D. Nguyen, Dr Elizabeth M. Westrupp, and Dr Amanda R. Cooklin were supported through the Roberta Holmes Transition to Contemporary Parenthood Program, Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe University. 2 Participants were recruited via an existing Australian Research Council (ARC) project, led by Professor Cathy Humphreys (Humphreys et al., Fathering, family and domestic violence and intervention challenges, ARC LP130100172). Names and parts of quotes were edited to protect the identity of participants and their families. 4. qualitative in-depth interviews with 50 women who had experienced DFV and engaged with services in the domestic and family violence sector, the child protection system, or the family law system. The interviews provided deep insight into how mother–child relationships are affected by DFV, the characteristics of the perpetrators of DFV as fathers, and the extent to which engagement with services in the three sectors supported women to improve or repair relationships with children.2