Social Worker’s In-Service Training:

Domestic Violence in Child WelfareCourse Description:Participants will receive training on the policies and best practices outlined in the “Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence.” Participants will gain knowledge and skills specific to four core areas: universal and periodic screening for domestic violence, conducting a specialized DV assessment, engagement and accountability with DV perpetrators, and case planning in families experiencing DV. Additionally, training will be provided on the process of domestic violence safety planning with adult DV victims. We’ll think critically about how the requirements outlined in the “Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence” might look in practice. We will demonstrate Screening for DV, Conducting Specialized DV assessment interviews with adult victims and DV perpetrators, and case planning that factors in domestic violence that is occurring. Participants will also practice these skills using case scenarios. Finally, we’ll practice applying the information and skills we’ve learned to make safe and supportive case decisions in key areas (assessing child safety, family meetings/shared planning, and visitation/placement considerations).

Developmental Competencies: SW216-01 Ability to identify domestic violence in families, understand the dynamics of

domestic violence, and implement safety plans for survivors and their children SW216-02 Ability to screen, assess, plan and coordinate services to children and family

members who have been maltreated as a result of domestic violence SW216-03 Ability to collaborate with community partners to remove safety concerns

and increase safety for children and non-offending parents SW216-04 Ability to engage, plan, and coordinate services and accountability processes

for DV perpetrators SW216-05 Ability to use DSHS tools and resources on behalf of children and adult

victims

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E-Learning:An e-learning is available which orients participants to the dynamics of DV and to child welfare’s role in working with these families.

Day 1: DV Screening and the Specialized DV Assessment

Time: 7 hours

Purpose:The purpose of this full day workshop is to help you improve your skills at safely identifying DV, gather further information about the dynamics of the DV using the specialized domestic violence assessment protocol, identify factors associated with lethality in domestic violence, identify online resources to identify past and current court orders related to domestic violence, and understand the role of a DV safety plan in supporting adult survivors to be safer.

Materials and Preparation Name tents and markers for tables Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence, brought by participants or accessed

via the CA website It’s helpful to have an internet connection and a few participants with a computer but none

of the required training elements use these. Optional video “Why Domestic Violence Victim’s Don’t Leave” (TED talk by Leslie Morgan

Steiner) https://www.ted.com/talks/leslie_morgan_steiner_why_domestic_violence_victims_don_t_leave?language=en This 16 minute video could be used on either day but is particularly helpful in considering why Mrs. Caldwell has stayed, and why she returns at the end of the scenario

Handouts Participant Workbook Caldwell Family Case Example Guide to Identifying DV Related Court Orders Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence (if you have extra copies, can also be

accessed electronically) Bikilla Screening Activity

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Lethality Assessment Scenarios Factors Commonly Associated with Lethality

Session Flow

Section Delivery Method Time1 Introductions, Information, Resources Trainer discussion 24 minutes2 Screening for DV Trainer/ group discussion

Participant WorkbookDemonstrationRole Play Activity

2 hours 20 minutes

LUNCH3 Specialized DV Assessment

DemonstrationTrainer/group discussionParticipant WorkbookDemonstration

1 hour 30 minutes

4 Lethality Assessment Activity 45 minutes5 DV Safety Planning PPT/Trainer led discussion

ActivityParticipant Workbook

45 minutes

6 Accessing Information from Records Activity/Demonstration 30 minutes7 Closure and Evaluations/Assessment 15 minutes

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Introductions, Information and Resources

State the session purpose:

The purpose of this full day workshop is to help you improve your skills at safely identifying DV, gather further information about the dynamics of the DV using the specialized domestic violence assessment protocol, identify factors associated with lethality in domestic violence, identify online resources to identify past and current court orders related to domestic violence, and understand the role of a DV safety plan in supporting adult survivors to be safer.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

1. Describe critical components of safe screening for domestic violence.2. Complete a specialized DV assessment interview with an adult victim.3. Identify multiple factors that might indicate heightened lethality risk for DV victims and their

children.4. Describe how to help an adult victim create a safety plan, and where and how to document this

process.5. Identify two resources to find information about current or past court orders related to adults

on your case.

Purpose and learning objectives for both days are located on p. 3 of the Participant WorkbookHave participants introduce themselves.

Name Job/role Something they want to feel more confident about related to their practice with cases impacted by DV.

Trainer’s Note: Keep track of what people want to feel more confident about on flip chart paper somewhere in the room.

Orient participants to the three resources they have in front of them

RESOURCE 1: Copies of the SW Practice Guide to Domestic Violence to be used during the training (if applicable)

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RESOURCE 2: Participant Workbook.

Please write in this and keep it – you will use it for both days of this training.

RESOURCE 3: Caldwell Family Case Example

RESOURCE 4: Guide to Identifying DV Related Court Orders

NOW, Let’s get started…

What is domestic violence?

Domestic violence is a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors, including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks, as well as economic coercion, that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partners.

Why is it important to use this definition when we’re applying the ideas and concepts in the Social Worker’s Guide to Domestic Violence (the Guide)?

Conflicts between other family members may be serious and unsafe but don’t usually have the same types of dynamics as situations addressed in the behavioral definition

It’s important that we’re seeing a pattern – and that it all adds up to one person having much more control and power in the relationship

The other tactics besides overt violence are often a really critical part of the experience and many (most) of those aren’t actions that are illegal. But missing them makes it nearly impossible to effectively respond to adult dv victim’s and their children’s needs.

Screening for DV

DV Screening is addressed in Part 3 of the guide

What are the (policy) requirements regarding screening for DV in CA cases?

Universal and periodic screening

Every family – regardless of whether DV has yet been identified as an issue

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Screening should occur at each stage of a case, and periodically. Situations can change and things may become unsafe over time. A victim may wait to decide if you are a safe person to tell or share information with about what is occurring.

Screening occurs regardless of family composition – single parent family, two parent family, etc.

Trainer’s Notes:

The following are questions/concerns that may come up in regards to the requirement to screen, and some responses.

What about when the other caregiver or person of concern isn’t a biological/legal parent? I don’t have a “right” to interview that person.

Law and CA policy that supports our ability to screen and serve caregivers who aren’t legal parents.

CA Practices and Procedures Guide 2331 (D) Investigative Standards6. Notify the alleged perpetrator of the allegations of CA/N at the earliest point in

the investigation that will not jeopardize the safety or protection of the child or the course of the investigation.

7. Conduct individual and face-to-face interviews with the child's caregiver(s) and all alleged perpetrators if reasonably available. If DV is identified, all persons (e.g., children, caregivers or alleged perpetrators) should be interviewed separately. The social worker may coordinate interviews with local law enforcement agencies in accordance with local community protocols that may authorize interview of the perpetrators by a person other than the social worker.

17. Seek professional and expert consultation and evaluation of significant issues. Examples include having the housing inspector or other local authority assess building safety or having the county sanitarian assess sewage and septic treatment issues.

18. Interview, in-person or by telephone, professionals and other persons (physician, nurse, school personnel, child day care, relatives, etc.) who are reported to have or, the social worker believes, may have first-hand knowledge of the incident, the injury, or the family's circumstances.

RCW 13.34.138(2)(b) (May be referred to as Sirita’s Law) (b) Prior to the child returning home, the department or supervising agency must complete the following:

(i) Identify all adults residing in the home and conduct background checks on those persons;

(ii) Identify any persons who may act as a caregiver for the child in addition to the parent with

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whom the child is being placed and determine whether such persons are in need of any services in order to ensure the safety of the child, regardless of whether such persons are a party to the dependency. The department or supervising agency may recommend to the court and the court may order that placement of the child in the parent's home be contingent on or delayed based on the need for such persons to engage in or complete services to ensure the safety of the child prior to placement. If services are recommended for the caregiver, and the caregiver fails to engage in or follow through with the recommended services, the department or supervising agency must promptly notify the court; and

(iii) Notify the parent with whom the child is being placed that he or she has an ongoing duty to notify the department or supervising agency of all persons who reside in the home or who may act as a caregiver for the child both prior to the placement of the child in the home and subsequent to the placement of the child in the home as long as the court retains jurisdiction of the dependency proceeding or the department is providing or monitoring either remedial services to the parent or services to ensure the safety of the child to any caregivers.

What about in FAR? Aren’t these families are supposed to be met with together, and children interviewed in their parents’ presence?

The fact that a case is designated for FAR does not mean the SW must meet with all family members together all the time. The SW can meet separately with family members. DV screening should be conducted with family members in FAR cases just as in all other cases.

The DV guide says that children should be interviewed after parents, but that’s not how we do it in CPS.

The best practice guidelines in the DV Practice Guide, including the guidelines regarding Safety (Part 2, pg. 22-23) and Talking with Children About DV (Part 4, pg. 52) address the interviewing of children about the domestic violence. Standard CPS interviewing protocols should be followed when interviewing about the abuse and neglect, and about overall safety. When this means gathering information about possible DV, this may occur first. It’s still a good idea, and often preferable, to speak with the child in the presence of or with the overt permission of the adult victim. The child may not feel able to disclose what they know unless it’s expressly made clear to them by the adult victim that it’s safe and ok to do so.

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Safety considerations are addressed on page 22/23 of the guide, in Part 2.

Brainstorm with your partner about what strategies you can use to screen safely. You can use p. 22 and 23 in the guide to gather further ideas. Record your ideas on p. 4 of the Participant Workbook.

Which strategies did you come up with? Which strategies do you have questions about with the guide?

Review the seven safety strategies on p. 22/23 and briefly discuss any areas where there are questions or concerns.

Regarding the last strategy: Interview Children Safely (from p. 52/53) Interview children after talking with victims when possible. Talk with children about DV in their household of origin when the child is in care and

they may have concerns about the adult victim’s safety. Provide resources for support.

Using Records as part of Screening

We may find important, helpful information in various electronic records systems.

Where do you routinely look for Information about DV?

FamLink – including Intake, SDM, Address (if it says address type confidential) and assessments

ESA – families who receive assistance may have information noted about DV. This could be something as overt as the client receiving a “good cause exception” because of DV (clients may be excused from participating with child support enforcement or from the requirement to seek work/job training because of a temporary or long term safety threat or other impacts of DV) or something more subtle such as descriptions of violent or coercive behavior that have been witnessed by the assigned worker.

Police records (convictions and arrests, incident report narratives) Court Records (look for protection order petitions, dissolutions, and criminal issues)

These can now be found on the WA courts website or on the Odyssey Portal. It is VERY important that Child Welfare staff know of ANY existing protection orders. We cannot ask our clients to violate these orders.

Trainer’s Notes:

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Note the “Guide to Identifying DV Related Court Orders.” This may be helpful to participants who have not used the WA Courts site, though it’s fairly easy to use.

The link for Odyssey is: https://odysseyportal.courts.wa.gov/odyportal

Important information on what types of protection orders exist can be found at the back of the Social Worker’s Guide to DV (p. 85-86).

Activity #1: DV Screening Demonstration

Read participants the Intake about the Caldwell family, p. 2.

Violence was identified in the intake. Do we still need to screen for DV and why so or why not?

While there’s a good amount of information in the report about a particular incident. This is different than having information that domestic violence is occurring. Domestic violence is about a pattern of abusive and controlling behavior where violence and other strategies are used to give one person significant power and control over the other. It seems extremely likely that in this situation domestic violence, rather than situational violence, is occurring. Still, it’s important that we begin with basic screening questions to make sure we understand what is happening, and who is the perpetrator and the victim.

Select several volunteers to read the part of the social worker. They can stand where they are or in front of the class. Establish what order they will read in so they know who they follow.

Participants not reading in the demonstration should make notes on important information they hear that suggest dv is occurring – and who the victim and perpetrator are.

Note that It’s unlikely that someone would share this much information with us all at once and very early on. However, it’s hard to do a demonstration that’s very valuable if you use a scenario where the fake client doesn’t talk. We’ll be using the information provided in each demonstration to practice the skills and the assessment, so it’s important that we had a scenario where the person provides significant information.

Activity #1 De-BriefDo we have a clear idea of whether there is DV going on? What tells you that this is DV?

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Appears to be a pattern that’s included violence, threats/intimidation about whether or if one person can leave the relationship, destruction of property, and unequal access to money.

Who is the victim and who is the abuser and how do you know?

Mom is the victim and dad/step-dad is the abuser.

It’s very common that perpetrators AND victims use some of the same behaviors so better understanding why and when they use these behaviors – and what the impact of the behavior is – is very important.

Both parties have used physical force or violence; however, Mrs. Caldwell has had many impacts from the physical force (injuries, isolation). When he destroys property, she cleans it up. She acts to protect the children. She left her job when the baby was born and didn’t go back to work, meaning she now has no way to support herself if she leaves. All of these result in him having a lot more power and control than she does in this relationship.

Determining who is the victim and who is the abuser (P. 30 of the guide but further guidance is provided in this training) can be challenging, especially when both parties have used violence or been arrested, or when they both report that the other is abusive. Getting this wrong can have very serious consequences. Gathering information about specific actions and patterns of behavior by each adult, as well as the impacts of these behaviors, allows the situation to be more clearly understood.

What are your thoughts on disentangling this? How might you try to sort it out?

Use page 5 to record the basic questions that can help determine who is the victim and who is the abuser.

Whose behavior creates fear in other members of the family? Who is exerting control over the other partner through a variety of abusive and coercive

tactics? Who experiences repeated negative consequences as a result of the abuse? Who acts to protect the children?

The social worker uses screening questions that are low key, and normalize family conflict (though not violence). What do you think of this?

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Many people don’t identify what is going on in their homes/relationships as abusive or think about it as domestic violence. Most people recognize that in intimate partnerships disagreements are normal. This type of question opens the door for further discussion without using labels that might lead people to hold back information or to say “that’s not me”.

There are several suggested questions in the guide and any of them work fine so for participants who don’t like this approach, there are a few others. All approaches should focus on behavioral descriptions rather than the person’s own assessment of whether there is “domestic violence” occurring. The goal is to find out what has happened.

When the mother answers the social worker’s question about what happened with an emotional assessment of what happened – the social worker asks for more information about the details of what occurred that resulted in injuries. What was the impact of this question?

Phrasing questions behaviorally and asking for descriptions of events – or “who did what to whom” is a way to gain more information, and more objective information. Remember that at the point DV screening occurs, you don’t necessarily know if DV is occurring and who the perpetrator might be. Because of this, it’s extremely important to try to get a sense of the sequence of events.

The social worker specifically asks about destruction of property, who cleans up after fights, threats about what will happen if she leaves. Why might these things be important?

These things help us better understand whether DV is occurring and who is the victim/who is the perpetrator. Who is impacted by the violence, and how?

What does this mother do to protect the children and what do you think of her general assessment of the impact on the children?

The mother has taken actions to try to protect her children (telling Elizabeth to take the other two away/outside, delaying fights until the kids are in bed or asleep). Further, she seems to be oriented to the possible impacts – not only that they could get hurt but also that “it’s not good for them to see that” and “Kids’ shouldn’t feel like they need to protect their mom.”

It’s likely that her children, despite her efforts, have experienced and been impacted by the ongoing violence in the home. Fortunately, research shows that children are resilient, and negative impacts of DV are buffered by a consistent, loving, nurturing relationship with a non-abusive parent or adult caregiver.

Some participants will feel that she is minimizing the impact of this. It’s possible that she knows the impact but isn’t comfortable revealing this to a SW – or that she’s in

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denial about this because it’s a painful thing to acknowledge. Either way, it is possible for the children to be significantly negatively impacted by an ongoing situation and still be SAFE, per our safety framework assessment.

Lastly, the person responsible for the child having experienced the abuse is the perpetrator of the violence. Unless the victim is showing reckless disregard for the children by actively placing them in harm’s way during an incident, it’s not appropriate to make a finding against her (this is a FAR case, but important in Investigation cases). Our policy and the federally recommended best practice (as a result of Nicholson V. Williams http://www.nyclu.org/case/nicholson-v-williams-defending-parental-rights-of-mothers-who-are-domestic-violence-victims ) is to individually assess what a victim is reasonably capable of doing to protect the children and not to find that they are negligent unless it’s clear that they aren’t taking actions they reasonably could to protect the child, given the context of their ongoing victimization.

Review of Screening – Complete page 6 in the workbook about screening for domestic violence. This information will help you in the next activity, where you will practice screening for DV in a role play.

Activity #2 – Screening role play

Ask participants to pair up

Handout the Bikilla Screening Activity. Each participant should receive the first page and feedback form. Half of participants should receive instructions for sw screening mother and Mr. Hayes, and the other should receive instructions for sw screening the boyfriend and Ms. Bikilla.

In the first simulation, one person will play the SW and the other will play the mother. Read the information for your role.

The social worker should use this interview to screen the mother for DV and to gather information about the dynamics of any possible DV that’s occurring.

You’ll have 6 minutes to complete the interview, before we switch roles.

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SWITCH – now the person who was playing the worker will play the boyfriend, and the person who had been the mother gets to play the worker and try out being the SW and screening Mr. Hayes.

Again, you have 6 minutes to gather what information you can.

You can use the information that you gained from the mother to guide your question, but is it safe to reveal what information she shared with you? (no)

De-brief

Once the role play is complete, the participants should de-brief with each other using the role play feedback form.

4 minutes for the de-brief

Activity #4 Large Group De-brief:

Do we have a clear idea of whether there is DV going on? What tells you that this is DV?

Yes. Repeated acts of physical violence, intimidation, coercion, and control.

Who is the victim and who is the abuser and how do you know?

Mom is the victim and boyfriend Mark is the abuser.

It’s very common that perpetrators AND victims use some of the same behaviors so better understanding why and when they use these behaviors – and what the impact of the behavior is – is very important.

They have both used physical force, including some times where she has initiated the use of physical force. However, she has had many instances where she was severely impacted where he has not. All these add up to result in him having a lot more power and control than she does in this relationship.

How might the ongoing DV impact Ms. Bikilla’s ability to address her substance use/abuse?

When you don’t feel safe it’s very difficult to direct your energy into making positive changes. Think about Maslow’s pyramid. Basic safety is at the bottom.

Particularly if Ms. Bikilla has a trauma history (we don’t know) she may be so impacted by fear or anxiety that she can’t spend cognitive/emotional resources on other tasks, or her ability to organize and follow through on these other plans might be seriously impacted.

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Substance use may have become part of how she copes with the dv (not that this excuses the concern, but it does help tie the need to address the DV to the other issues impacting her parenting). Lastly, many abusers actively undermine victims’ efforts to get sober because their substance use keeps them more vulnerable and makes it easier to control and manipulate them.

How might this situation impact the ability for Amira to return home?

It may not be safe for Amira to live in this context. We would need to work with Ms. Bikilla to help her plan for her own safety, and work with Mark to see if he is willing and able to make changes to his own behavior to ensure a safe environment for this child and possibly be a safe caregiver for this child. Also, if Ms. Bikilla is using, it may impair her ability to keep Amira safe from any ongoing DV so that is an additional layer of concern.

What are your thoughts about how to try to work with Mr. Hayes about making changes to his behavior?

We’ll cover this more in Day 2 but for now know that you have authority to engage with him and to offer him voluntary services.

L-U-N-C-H: use break to set up computers for participants to use during the next segment.

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The Specialized DV Assessment

Now we’ll focus on the work of gathering more information about the ongoing domestic violence.

Have participants use page 7 in their workbook to record the following basic information about the specialized DV assessment.

Page 34 of the guide provides an overview of this content.

The specialized DV assessment is:

It’s an interview protocol, not a form to fill out in FamLink. Individuals should be interviewed separately. Social workers should gather information about:

o The perpetrator’s pattern of assaultive and coercive tactics against the adult victim

o The impact of the DV on the adult victimo The impact of the DV on the childo The protective factors (child, victim, community and perpetrator)o Lethality Indicators

It’s documented in FamLink

Do you recall who should be interviewed first for information about the DV?

The adult victim, unless you have concerns that this will endanger the children. Remember that once the screen is completed you should have identified who the victim and perpetrator are.

Activity # 2 – Specialized DV Assessment Demonstration

Trainer’s Note 1: This is the first Specialized DV Assessment interview, but it’s important to note that the specialized DV assessment is going to include interviews and information from a variety of sources including the children, perpetrator, collaterals, and documents such as law enforcement reports, court orders, and DSHS documentation. We start with the adult victim as this is the recommended, safest order – but participants should understand that one interview with a victim isn’t sufficient. Safety assessment and case planning are safest and most appropriate when a full specialized assessment has occurred. Furthermore, this information should continue to be gathered as the case moves forward.

The beginning of the conversation with the adult victim should address confidentiality and

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the reason for the expanded gathering of information. This should serve to reassure the victim and to ensure that we are focused on her safety as well as the children’s. You might think of it as analogous to the beginning of a forensic child interview. You don’t want to skip it as any concerns the victim has about why the conversation is happening, or your ability to keep it confidential, as it will impact the rest of the interview. Beginning the conversation is covered on p. 36 and 37 in the section “Specialized DV Assessment Interviews with Adult Victims”

Trainer’s Note 2: Prior to beginning the demonstration put up on large poster paper or a white board the main topics of the interview. Participants will capture information in each of these areas:

Perpetrator’s tactics Impact on adult victim Impact on child(ren) Indicators of Lethality Protective factors

Select several participants to read the part of the social worker, using pages 6 – 13. Assign one or two participants to stand at each poster paper. They should note any

information relevant to each category as they hear it. They can just make best guesses - we’ll spend time sorting it out at the end.

Other participants should listen but also may use pages 8 and 9 in their workbook to record information about HOW the social worker approaches the interview, and gathers the critical information.

Activity #2 De-Brief – possible questions for the group

Why do you think the social worker started the interview by explaining confidentiality and the reason for the interview?

(Covered on P. 36 of the guide)

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DV victims need to make their own best determinations about when and how it’s safe to disclose information about their lives. By disclosing information to a DV perpetrator, we might seriously endanger the adult victim and children. We have to be up front about the circumstances under which that might happen.

The social worker talks to the victim about her own safety a few times and a few different ways – including strongly advocating/suggesting contact or connection with a DV advocate. What do you think about this?

Adult victims’ safety and their children’s safety are tightly linked – adults who experience devastating outcomes often have children who also experience devastating outcomes. Additionally, when adult victims’ safety is increased, they have greater ability to keep their children safe from the perpetrator.

CA workers are often not as skilled in assessing adult safety or planning with adults to stay safe in the same way a DV advocate is. They very experienced in helping DV victims think through what will be their best options, and can be very helpful to both the victim and the SW

At times it can be an advantage to the children and adult victim that the CA worker doesn’t know specific details of the DV safety plan. In that way we can’t be forced to reveal it or other information that might really endanger the victim.

Lastly, when we take seriously an adult victim’s concerns about safety, and consider that person worthy of safety/protection, we communicate that we respect and value them and create a stronger alliance with them – which can serve our ability to assess the safety of the children, and to act to protect children when needed.

This social worker used an important approach to gathering information identified in the guide – asking about particular episodes and getting lots of information about those specific episodes. (A common way to think about this is: the first, the worst, and the most recent) What did you think about this approach and the information it provided?

Provides details about the abuser and his pattern of abuse, potentially about seriousness of violence, often about other tactics, often about impact to the children.

In this case, we learn the following:

He humiliated and degraded her during the fight at Thanksgiving. He expected her to know when he wanted to leave the party, and there was a

consequence for her not figuring that out. He left her walking after dark on the side of the road for more than an hour, after she’d

been drinking.

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He possibly used that time to buy a bat he intended to use to beat her. (this is a great fact to show how dv isn’t about anger control – he was very much in control)

She lost consciousness during an assault. He didn’t visit her in the hospital and she believes this is because he was afraid of law

enforcement involvement. This might be important as LE involvement may be an effective deterrent for him.

She has left him in the past – he reacted with contrition and didn’t escalate dangerous behavior (but also did take actions to get her back home).

What information do we get about his parenting during this interview?

He isn’t very involved with the parenting of the girls. His parenting is immature and emotionally harsh – at least with the girls (e.g. the

incident where he “threw a tantrum too” and destroyed something Elizabeth had made) He has high standards for the care of his son (must be clean, dressed particularly, etc) Mom feels he’s a good parent to his son. He seems invested in his relationship with his son Mom is sometimes more strict with the girls to avoid having him intervene The girls don’t have a good relationship with him, don’t like him.

The social worker stays very neutral as the mother gives information about her life. She doesn’t ever weigh in on whether the mother should leave the relationship – even saying things like “if you decide you want to remain separated” and asking about what the mother thinks might help. What is the impact of that kind of interaction – vs one where the social worker presses the mother to stay separated, pursue divorce, etc?

The mother isn’t pushed in one way or the other – might be more honest about intentions to stay or go in the future.

It’s realistic – very often victims return to their abusers several times and we must be oriented to how to protect the children in that context, as well as during separation (which also may be a time of significant safety threats)

Pushing for a particular action in DV cases can have serious safety implications – sometimes those actions result in very scary, harmful behavior from the perpetrator. This approach recognizes that the adult victim’s perspective on how safe her choices are should be respected, or at least considered.

This approach borrows heavily from motivational interviewing

Along those lines the SW doesn’t say that the mother must get a restraining order, even though the mother says she intended to get one. Why???

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Supporting an adult victim’s autonomy is important – as they are living in a context where they may have little ability to make their own choices.

We don’t know what would happen when the DV perpetrator is served with the restraining order. This is an important thing to think through before it’s initiated.

DV victim’s advocacy services are skilled at helping the mother think through the implications, safety plan, and obtain such an order if she is interested. Victims sometimes use records from CA to support their case. This is another reason to document intentionally and behaviorally about what you’ve seen, what’s been reported, and the impacts of each person’s choices on the children. If you are asked to help the victim directly, check with your AAG about if and how you can do that within your role.

What is one of Ms. Caldwell’s serious concerns? She brings it up twice.

Her ability to get full or majority custody of Taylor. This is something to be discussed further.

MANY DV victims end up remaining with their abuser as a way to maintain relationships with children they fear will be placed with their abuser (she notes that he is a “good talker”) and/or as a way to protect their children from their abuser. If unsupervised visitation or shared custody is ordered, these victims wouldn’t be able to protect their children during those times.

We may have a limited ability to respond to this concern, as it doesn’t initially seem that Taylor would be unsafe with Mr. Caldwell.

The sw asks about her longer term plans (where she will live). Why?

If she doesn’t have a solid plan where she’s able to meet her own and her kids’ needs, she may be less likely to stay separated.

She notes several times that she’s concerned about living with her mother. This may not be a sustainable plan.

She notes that she’s “back to welfare”. This is clearly a concern for her and again may play into decisions about reuniting with Mr. Caldwell. Independent access to sufficient money and resources is going to be an ongoing need for her.

Many DV victims’ services programs now have information about how to obtain and maintain sustainable safe housing for DV victims. In addition, Economic Services (TANF) has policies and procedures to help support victims of DV. SW’s should develop knowledge about what ESA offers, as well as connections with local DV victims’ programs.

Activity # 3 Review of the 5 key elements of the Specialized Assessment:

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Using the poster paper that was placed around the room, where participants noted thoughts about each of the 5 areas of the specialized assessment, consider each and sort out with participants what information belongs in each.

Remember that information in each category is most helpful when it’s behavioral and focuses on the impact or outcome. Speculation about what impact might occur over time isn’t helpful as we’re considering child safety (which focuses on now and the near future)

What information do we have about the perpetrator’s tactics and pattern of abuse?

He uses “crazy making” tactics like saying he has evidence of her infidelity even though he doesn’t. He sometimes pairs this with threats, and other times with overtures of forgiveness. This can make a person feel crazy, and doubt themselves and their own perception of reality. The impact is lots of time and attention that Mrs. Caldwell has to spend both monitoring her own behavior and reassuring him about issues he has created.

He is jealous – how does he show this? How does this impact Mrs. Caldwell? He degrades and insults her as a means to limit the likelihood that she’ll leave He has economically isolated her – how did he do this specifically? What is the impact?

What information do we have about the impact on the adult victim?

She has become more isolated during the relationship – losing her sister, her job, impacting her relationship with her mom, feeling like their friends think she’s “crazy”

When she told her sister what was going on in her relationship her sister stopped speaking to her – hasn’t really told anyone since. The impact of things like this is that the victim learns that no one can or will help them. This decreases the chance they will ask for help or seek emotional support in the future.

Since entering the relationship Ms. Caldwell has left her job and now has no means to support herself – she relies entirely on her husband for resources

She has been hospitalized, has stayed home because she’s been bruised. Did she have to take leave? Did she lose pay etc.? Was she able to attend important appointments for the children? Do daily tasks like shop for food?

It has impacted her parenting – how? (She makes parenting decisions partly based on the need to keep him from getting involved. She has relied on her mom to care for the kids when she was recovering from injuries.)

What information do we have about the impacts on the children?

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The girls don’t like Mr. Caldwell. We’ll want more specific information about their relationship with him. This will be important in subsequent interviews, particularly the interviews with the children.

Rayanne has been physically abused while intervening in a physical assault. The children witnessed at least one physical assault. Again, we’ll want to know more

about what they’ve seen and heard. What they know about how they should behave when an assault is occurring. Whether they are afraid and of what/who.

Elizabeth has comforted her mother after a fight. This isn’t an egregious injury but likely has an impact on her relationship with her mother.

During the last part of the interview, the worker asks a series of questions about indicators of lethality. What are your thoughts about anything in this case that raises the risk for lethality? We’ll talk about this in greater detail later today.

Mrs. Caldwell’s willingness to fight back raises the risk for serious bad outcomes Unclear whether there’s still a gun at grandma’s house – need follow up there. This

could raise the possible lethality (and is independently unsafe for the children if stored improperly)

He may be using (abusing?) substances. This also may have relevance if there are substances in the home the children may have access too. We’d also want to know about the adult victim’s use of substances. This may have been a gap in the interview completed by this worker.

What are some protective factors?

Maternal grandmother appears to play a protective role. She has maintained a relationship with Ms. Caldwell, and has acted on behalf of the children in the past. It would be good to explore how she may be willing to support her daughter and her grandchildren now (financially, emotionally, etc)

It sounds like Mr. Caldwell may respect and respond to the possible involvement of law enforcement.

In the past Mr. Caldwell has said he should be a better father and husband, and acknowledged his actions weren’t appropriate

Mr. Caldwell does seem invested in his role as a father and in Taylor.

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Lethality Assessment

Optional Hook for Lethality Assessment Activity:Did you know…? …that when the abuser has access to firearms the risk of homicide within that relationship increases by 500%? (National Network to End Domestic Violence)1

Activity #3– Lethality Assessment Activity

Distribute the scenarios (Attachment # 4) and form groups for each of the 5 scenarios (or if it’s a smaller class or you’re short for time, select only a few of the scenarios).

Have each group read the scenario and identify the things that might increase the risk of lethality, and also any protective factors.

They could note these in their groups or – alternately – you could have a piece of flip chart paper up in the room that says Lethality indicator and have each group write what factors in their scenario might be lethality indicators up on that paper.

Handout Factors Commonly Associated with Lethality once they have picked what they thought was related to lethality in their scenarios. Use the Lethality assessment discussion guide (Attachment #5) to respond to their ideas.

Commonly associated with Lethality Recent separation –A victim’s separation from the perpetrator can elevate the danger as the

perpetrator may feel a loss of control over the victim. The victim’s location and work location are known to the perpetrator so there would be easy access to the victim.

Stalking – the behaviors described here are stalking and highly controlling. These indicate the perpetrator feels entitled to control every aspect of the victim’s life, and will spend time and energy monitoring this.

Threats about consequences for leaving – it’s not clear what these consequences will be but it is worth asking the victim what the victim thinks is meant. This is highly concerning in combination with past stalking

Drug/Alcohol abuse – substance abuse (particularly alcohol) is frequently associated with increased violence in DV cases and is frequently associated with DV homicides

Access to weapons – it’s 5X more likely that a woman will be killed by an abuser if he owns a gun2

1 Stated on http://www.thehotline.org/resources/firearms-dv/ but cited to: J.C. Campbell, D.W. Webster, J. Koziol-McLain, et al., “Risk factors for femicide within physically abusive intimate relationships: results from a multi-site case control study,” 93 Amer. J. of Public Health 1089-1097 (2003).2 I got a little confused because you alternately see the 500% figure and the 5X figure all over (just search some combination of guns and domestic violence). I wondered which is accurate. Then I searched about percentages vs

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History of sexual violence and intimidation - has been linked to lethality in some research and can can contribute to suicidality of the victim.

Medications - several antidepressant and antianxiety medications have been noted to increase violent behavior

Perpetrator depression – suicidality is the most serious concern associated with this factor, but general depression and hopelessness also increase the risk that this perpetrator will use serious or deadly violence

Violence increasing in severity – related to lethality Victim Pregnancy – Pregnancy is a high risk time. Perpetrator Unemployment – perpetrators who ultimately kill their victims are much more likely

to be unemployed than perpetrators who don’t ultimately kill their victims Suffocation/potentially lethal violence – this is a very concerning risk factor. Previous criminal history related to DV – this is concerning for 2 reasons. 1) it shows the stability

of the perpetrator’s commitment to violence over time and in different circumstances and 2) it did not impact the perpetrator in a way that ended his negative behavior

Victim is afraid – some research suggests that a victim’s self-assessment of danger is fairly accurate

Victim substance abuse – the victim is more vulnerable because this behavior limits her ability to cognitively and physically act in her own defense.

Perpetrator uses a variety of tactics to abuse/control victim. This may be related to lethality. Destruction of property as a means of control has been linked to lethality in some studies. Victim fighting back – especially as this is a change in the victim’s behavior. This can escalate

things and make the situation even more unsafe Child intervening in violence – this can escalate things by causing the victim to take more drastic

measures to protect the child, as well as just causing the perpetrator to possibly escalate behavior. This is also a child safety issue.

Possible suicidality if the victim leaves – This is a serious lethality risk

Trainer’s Notes:This section is likely to raise the anxiety level of many participants. It will be important to be clear on the following points.

Thankfully, most domestic violence does not end with a fatality. Reviewing this content heightens awareness of a possible outcome, but it can be reassuring to remember that it is not the typical outcome.

There is no universally accepted DV fatality predictor tool in use today. There are several tools developed for different contexts with some research suggesting they are reliable and valid.

There are many behaviors or conditions that often occur with a DV homicide – but these are sometimes present in situations where homicide doesn’t occur, and homicide sometimes happens without these factors.

however many times and found that 500% = 5X. So, just in case you are also not an ace at math, these numbers mean the same thing

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Your role is to get a sense of the overall pattern and to assess child safety with these in mind. Remember that factors that are related to victim fatality should be given considerable weight in terms of evaluation of child safety – including in the context of visitation.

What do you think you should do if you’re worried that this is a potentially lethal situation?

Alert the adult victim to your concern, and try to persuade them to connect with an advocate to discuss their situation. The advocate and the adult victim can come up with a plan that they feel best responds to the threats and keeps everyone (including the children) safe.

Seek professional consultation with DV services providers (independent from the adult victim) about how to move forward safely, and specific considerations for the children.

Remember that separation from the abuser is actually related to increased risk, so we DON’T want to say “I’m really concerned by what you’ve told me. I’m worried you may be seriously hurt or killed. You need to leave the home today or I will have to go to court and remove your children.”

Why???

Because leaving the home today (especially with little or no planning) might actually further endanger the whole family.

Instead, try something like “I want to connect you with a professional who can help you plan to assure your safety and your children’s safety. Because I’m so concerned, we need to have a plan in place before the end of the day so that I know you and your children are safe. If we aren’t able to come up with a plan that will protect you and your children, then I’ll want your help to plan how we might temporarily place the children elsewhere – like in a relative’s home - in a way that protects their and your safety.”

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Domestic Violence Safety Plan

Optional HookWho likes Mob movies? TV shows, etc?Who knows what the witness protection program is?(People who have witnessed crimes involving drug trafficking, organized crime, or terrorism are often afforded special security and protection by the government in exchange for their testimony through the federal witness protection program. The people who participate in the witness protection program, many of whom participated in the criminal acts they are testifying about, can count on immunity from prosecution, provision of new identities, relocation, money for basic living expenses, medical care, and 24-hour protection by US marshals during the time of highest threat to their safety.)It’s long been argued that the witness protection program is essential, because without taking care of the safety considerations facing these individuals, they probably would not participate with police and would remain within these organizations, because the threats to them if they leave or if they tell are too significant. During the more than 40 years since the program has been in existence, more than 18,000 people have received protection and not a single one has been harmed.

Why does this have any relevance to this training?(possible answers) It makes sense to us that people won’t rat out the mob unless we make it really safe and

really easy. DV victims may be controlled and threatened in similar ways yet circumstances make it neither safe nor easy for them to leave. When they don’t leave, we feel that they are acting irrationally when the opposite might be true.

The time around leaving an abusive relationship is extremely high risk, (more than half of deaths related to DV occur during this time) and because there is no widely available or reliable means to ensure protection from an abuser. (To use the witness protection analogy, the WPP doesn’t just issue protection orders to its participants.) Confidential shelters are extremely difficult to access based on the limited availability of spaces, and don’t meet all victim’s needs).

Visitation between the DV abuser and the children may be an additional concern for the adult victim. This often results in some form of contact between the adult victim and the abuser. In addition, it results in a period of time on a regular basis when the adult victim can’t physically protect the children from the abuser. We may have to address this with adult victims even if we aren’t considering placement, as it may be one of the issues that impacts their decisions about whether to engage with or trust us.

Unlike someone enrolled in witness protection, DV victims don’t have a government program solely designed to protect their safety. DV victims must use their personal knowledge and experiences to help them keep themselves and their children safe despite all efforts of the DV abuser. Child welfare workers and other community partners such as victim advocacy programs

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can play an important role in collaborating with a DV victim to help them think about how to stay safer. While this may be a new concept for child welfare, DV victim services programs have many years of experience working with DV victims, and these community programs can provide valuable insight and recommendations.

Trainer’s Note: The Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence outlines the expectation that workers help adult victims plan for their own and their children’s safety via a DV safety plan. This is a skill and takes time to develop. However, even unexperienced workers can start with basic techniques and build on them. DV advocates do safety planning every day with their clients. It’s ok – maybe preferable – for a CA worker to safety plan with a DV victim by getting them on the phone with a DV advocate .

Basic Information about DV safety plans and how they differ from the safety plans our system creates with families when children are unsafe is presented on p. 10 of the workbook. It’s also covered on p. 62-66 of the SW Guide to Domestic Violence.

Activity #5 – DV Safety Planning Practice

Divide into 3-6 groups and assign each group one or two of the six major areas of safety planning.

Give groups time to review p. 10 of the workbook and p. 62-66 of the guide (they can just skim the info in the guide).

Using that info, think about what kinds of considerations there may be in your assigned area.

Generate as many questions as you can that you could use with an adult victim to help that person create a strong safety plan around concerns that might fall under your assigned category. Write them in your workbook on p. 11, under the category you were assigned.

Report out from each group

Below are some considerations that fall under each area. As each group report out, ensure these are addressed:

Planning for Immediate Safety during an assault

Identifying exits from the home or other location where assault might take place

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Identifying other protective measures such as which rooms have doors that lock Plans for removing or hiding weapons, ammunition, etc Plans to send for or obtain help (calling 911, alerting neighbor, use of code word, etc)

Planning for Escape

Ensuring critical information, documentation, and resources are accessible (ID/ Social Security cards, school records, financial records, medical records)

Ensuring financial stability (starting separate banking account, identifying eligibility for TANF or other support programs)

Identifying where to go (housing resources) Having some “grab and go” necessities packed

Planning for Long-Term Safety: (remember that leaving doesn’t automatically create safety, and often increases the risk of violence in the short term)

security precautions like locks, security systems, telling neighbors changing routines, locations frequently visited planning for visitations or other contact required by children – ensuring safety for

children and for adult victim Knowing locations in community that are safe (e.g. – go to a police station if being

followed in your car)

Planning with/for children

Considering who to notify of the situation and any restrictions on contact with perpetrator (school, friends, activities, et)

Providing copies of court or custody orders to parties as needed Identifying people the child can go to during very high risk times Identifying supports for the child Making sure child knows what to do during a violent incident Making sure child knows safe people close to the home Ensuring the child can call 911

Trainer’s Note:You might need to emphasize the difference between how a DV safety planning process includes general planning with and for children’s safety related to DV (and NOT related to an identified child safety threat) and safety planning that we use in child welfare (related to an identified child safety threat). In a child welfare safety plan we can’t and won’t rely on a child to keep themselves safe, but in the context of DV safety planning we would assist the victim in planning to ensure the child had knowledge and skills that might be protective if and when physical violence occurs.

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Emotional Supports: (surviving and leaving are emotionally draining, and have impacts on concrete resources. Having support increases the success of the victim’s efforts on all fronts)

Identifying professional programs/resources Identifying natural supports – reconnecting with these if they’ve been impacted by the

DV Identifying cultural factors that impact decisions to stay or go and identifying positive

and supportive individuals within the community (e.g. – the religious leader who feels that separation is acceptable in cases of violence, or the DV services provider who runs a group for LBGTQ survivors)

Anticipating ambivalence about the decision to leave (or to stay away) and planning for coping with loneliness, guilt, etc.

At Work

Who at work should be notified, and what paperwork would be helpful to provide Is switching work locations or hours possible. Plan for escape, and safe hiding within the building Plan for safely arriving at and leaving work

Trainer’s Note: DV safety planning is really about a process to help victims (and sometimes children) consider the threats they may face and take actions that may protect them now and in the future. It’s about helping people think through their options and pick ideas that best match their situation. This training does not present an example of such a plan because the process of thinking through specific risks together is much more important than the end decisions made by victims about how they will address specific threats, which may vary widely based on their unique circumstances.

Key takeaways about DV safety plans:

While DV Advocates have great skills to do safety planning with adult victims, you also have responsibility to work with the victim to support his or her safety to whatever extent that you can within your role.

Document that you addressed safety concerns with the adult victim and discussed plans to increase everyone’s safety. DO NOT document specific strategies the DV victim will use to stay safe.

Ask the DV victim how actions taken by child welfare could affect the victim’s safety, and what the SW can do to minimize negative impact.

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Bottom line about supporting adult victim’s safety:

When DV victims are safe(r) they are better able to protect their children. They have more emotional, physical, and other resources available to attend to threats, plan for the children’s protection, and act effectively to intervene when situations become unsafe.

Taking adult victim safety seriously promotes child safety!

Trainer’s Note:

Time Warning: If you finish the content today and there’s more than 1 hour left before the official end of the training time, it’s HIGHLY recommended that you start in on the content for Day 2. Day 2 is PACKED and participants will have less energy tomorrow.

Closure

Parking Lot items – Address them now if you can, direct participants to the guide, or reassure that this will be covered tomorrow.

Have participants complete p. 12 in their Participant Workbook – creating a personal action plan to build on the knowledge and skills covered during the day.3

Make sure everyone signed in so they will receive credit

Remind folks to keep their Participant Manual for tomorrow.

(Optional) Before ending the training, you may want to show this 60 second clip (PSA) from the NoMore campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j70ha1PUlqk

3 Both having participants think about what they will change as a result of training AND having participants write about these changes are best practices that promote transfer of learning

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Day 2: Engagement and Accountability with DV perpetrators, Child Safety Planning and Case Planning

Time: 7 hours

Purpose:The purpose of today’s training is to build knowledge and skills about how to safely and effectively engage with DV perpetrators, assess safety of children when domestic violence is occurring, and create appropriate case plans that support child and adult victim safety, and place accountability on the DV perpetrator to change the behavior that endangers other family members. We will also gain information about the service providers available in this community who address domestic violence.

Materials and Preparation Recommended: Copy of the 17 Washington Safety Threats with definitions, the safety

threshold questions and safety plan analysis questions (not included with this curriculum)

Handouts Copies of Day 1 & Day 2 Self-Assessment Caldwell Gathering Questions Bikilla Case Safety Plan Caldwell Example Case Plan

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Session Flow

Section Delivery Method Time1 Hook 5 minutes2 Engagement and Accountability with

DV perpetratorsTrainer/ discussionParticipant WorkbookDemonstration

1 hour 30 min

3 Assessing and Supporting Child Safety Trainer/ discussionWorkbookActivity

1 hour 40 min

LUNCH4 Case Plans and Case Decisions Trainer/discussion

Participant Workbook1 -2 hours

If time Allows – Visitation, Placement, FTDM’s

Trainer/discussionParticipant Workbook

(30 min)

5 Local Services – Provider Mini Panel Panel Discussion 1 hour6 Closure 20 minutes

Review the goal and learning objectives for today’s portion (also noted in their Participant Workbook on p. 3):

The purpose of today’s training is to build knowledge and skills about how to safely and effectively engage with DV perpetrators, assess safety of children when domestic violence is occurring, and create appropriate case plans that support child and adult victim safety, and place accountability on the DV perpetrator to change the behavior that endangers other family members. We will also gain information about the service providers available in this community who address domestic violence.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

1. Describe how interactions with DV perpetrators can both hold them accountable for the impact of their choices and can support their continued engagement with child welfare.

2. Differentiate between requirements that support adult victim safety and reduce the perpetrator’s ability to exert power and control over the adult victim, and those that do not.

3. Describe what services are appropriate for perpetrators of domestic violence.

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4. Know some resources in your community that support DV victims and DV perpetrators, and who can consult and collaborate with you on cases where DV is or might be occurring.

Engagement and Accountability with DV Perpetrators

This is covered in Part 6 in the Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence, on p.37, and 72 - 75

Optional Hook for this portion of the curriculum:

“You can’t be held accountable if you don’t count”

Futures Without Violence, a national organization that focuses on issues of domestic violence and parenthood, uses this slogan at the beginning of its presentations on working with men who are perpetrators of domestic violence.

What does that mean for our work with people who are perpetrating domestic violence?

Some possible thoughts: Change is hard and it’s much harder if you aren’t included in part of the process Approaches to change like Motivational Interviewing work because when people make

their own choices to change – change is more likely Whether we like it or not, most people who batter will stay involved in their families in

one capacity or another. Their actions as members of these families will count, and have lasting implications for other family members. We should not be blind to this.

We in the Child Welfare system have historically discounted the role that men play in their families. This is in direct contrast to the experience that families have, where the participation of the adult caregivers is central to how the family functions. Ignoring ½ the family makes families see us and our perspective as unrelated to their reality.

Over and over again, we see that batterers “disappear” in child welfare cases. Even when they are a biological parent, the entire focus shifts to the adult victim and months go by with no mention of the perpetrator in the case notes.

Pair and Share – Answer the two questions on p. 13 of the participant manual about why this is and how we might better engage perpetrators. Discuss your ideas with your partner.

Report out to larger group

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Possible answers:

Presumption that the batterer won’t/can’t change so engagement with that person feels pointless

Myth that the DV victim can stop or control the perpetrator’s behavior so the social worker focuses on getting the adult victim to “get it” and stop the perpetrator’s behavior

Monitoring the DV victim to see if the situation can be managed safely by the DV victim – often without providing the DV victim any additional support to better keep herself or her children safe

It can feel intimidating and seem/be dangerous to engage with the perpetrator We can be afraid we’ll make things worse or endanger the victim if we talk to the

batterer Sometimes the perpetrator isn’t a parent and we believe that we don’t “have” to deal

with them (thought they likely have real staying power in the family’s life, so we should) It’s hard – it’s a tough skill to learn, there aren’t a lot of professional development

resources that support learning this skill, and there are limited opportunities for practice

Some tips for engaging batterers safely and effectively:

(p. 72 – 75 in the Guide)

Work with victim to ensure the interview with the perpetrator is safe for all parties Interview about any ca/n issues first, and form a connection if possible Use behavioral questions and ask for behavioral descriptions of incidents Do NOT confront perpetrators with victims’ statements Engage with the DV perpetrator around their role as a parent/caretaker

Before we do the demonstration, let’s gain some consensus about what the end goal is of engagement with a DV perpetrator, and what the purpose of our interviews and meetings with them are.

Record the following in your workbook on page 14.

Your goal in every encounter with a DV abuser is to:

Trainer’s Note: Below each of the 4 goals of engagement are some strategies for how to achieve them. You may point out that these rely heavily on the core skills used in SBC for building a consensus.

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Establish rapport and a respectful relationshipo The perpetrator is most likely to provide accurate information to someone who

is willing to see him as more than this behavior, and who can see the positives and strengths in who he is.

o If there is not an adequately respectful and genuine connection developed, it’s very difficult for the perpetrator to value or consider your perspective on their behavior.

o Connecting around normal challenges in family life is a good neutral place to start and offers the opportunity to gather a lot of information needed for the safety assessment as well (functioning of the children, discipline, other parenting, functioning of the adult)

Provide information about how abusive behavior impacts children and the family as a whole

o Engaging the perpetrator as a father, and around the role of fathers is the recommended practice. The perpetrator may not initially be motivated by information about the impact of abuse on the victim. However, many (though not all) perpetrators may be able to reflect on their own experiences as children and youth and may want to leave a better legacy for their children.

Clearly articulate expectations for behavior and consequences for unsafe behavioro This can be tied to information that’s already been reported or can be

“expectations we have of all adults in any family.” For instance, “When any adult uses physical violence in the home, against anyone, we have to consider whether that person is safe to stay there. If you use physical violence or even threats, we may have to ask a court to decide whether you need to be temporarily asked to leave your home.”

Respectfully motivate changeo Ask about interest in changeo Note that other men you have worked with have “turned things around” and

created more peaceful, strong familieso Wonder what it will be like 6 months from now and whether he might feel proud

for the help he’d sought and the change he madeo Wonder what the kids will say about him if he decided to do some work on this

issue

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Engaging effectively with an abuser may take time. It’s unlikely that you’ll have a lot of agreement the first time you meet and discuss this concern. You want to leave every encounter with the door open for future progress, and you want to avoid endorsing statements that deflect the perpetrator’s responsibility (it was the victim’s fault, it’s normal in my culture, it was the alcohol/drugs, etc.)

Activity # 1 – Specialized DV Assessment Interview Demonstration – DV Perpetrator

Trainer’s Note: Yesterday we demonstrated a specialized DV assessment interview with the adult victim but noted that other interviews and information gathering are required to accurately understand the situation. Today we’re demonstrating this interview with the DV perpetrator.

Read the following context before you start the scenario

You meet with Mr. Caldwell in your office several days after the intake was received. You have spoken with Ms. Caldwell, including interviewing her about the dynamics of the domestic violence. You have spoken with the children, in the presence of Ms. Caldwell.

After speaking to the DV advocate, Ms. Caldwell requested that you wait to meet with her husband until after her restraining order was filed and he was served with notice. She additionally requested that you notify her of the date/time of the planned interview, which you did.

Select several participants to read the part of the social worker in the demonstration interview, found on p. 14.

Have other participants make notes about the relevant information that is provided during the interview.

Activity #1 De-Brief – possible questions for the groupWhat do you think about the way the social worker planned for and approached the interview with the DV abuser (spoke to mother and children first, told mother the date/ time, and interviewed Mr. Caldwell in the office)?

(covered on p. 72/73 of the Guide)

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It’s recommended not to complete the Specialized Assessment interview with the DV perpetrator until you have spoken with the victim and the children.

By following the mother’s request about when to talk to Mr. Caldwell and to notify her, supported her in staying safe(er).

The office is a good choice for an initial meeting (worker safety). It can support worker safety to alert others of your meeting and have someone keep an eye on the interview room.

How well did it work for the worker to focus on other assessment information first?

Mr. Caldwell tried to engage directly about the concern from the beginning, but was willing to engage around parenting once the worker reinforced several times that she wanted to have information about what was going well.

If the discussion would have gone straight to DV it seems likely he would have shut down, as he ultimately did when the focus shifted there.

Some important assessment information (around the kids, his view of himself as a parent, and each parent’s discipline practices) came from that discussion.

We said there are 4 main goals when engaging a perpetrator. What are some examples of things the worker did/said to:

Establish rapport and a respectful relationship

o Says (s)he is interested in good things about himo Re: his concerns about his wife – “I take that seriously” (although the worker doesn’t

ultimately make time for these. What are the pros and cons of hearing about this up front?)

o Lots of statements about his importance to Taylor as a fathero Don’t want you to end up in jailo Hope we can talk more in the future – “you are important”

Provide information about how abusive behavior impacts children and the family as a whole

o “it’s not good for kids to see their mom hurt”o Mention of the impact on his relationship with Tayloro Seeks agreement – “best for both parents to be safe and healthy”

Clearly articulate expectations for behavior and consequences for unsafe behavior

o Discusses respecting the court ordero Says it’s not good for kids to see or be exposed to violence

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o Doesn’t say what will happen if violence occurs again or if restraining order is broken.

Respectfully motivate change

o Directly asks if he’s interested in making some changeso Says (s)he wants to provide some resources to change

Did Mr. Caldwell accept responsibility for his behavior?

o Mr. Caldwell reframed the concern as an issue “in their marriage” or “between both of them.”

o He used information (not clear if it’s reliable information or not) about his wife’s use of substances and possible mental health challenges to further deflect responsibility or attention.

o Both are common strategies used by DV perpetrators.

What do Mr. Caldwell’s answers about his use of violence say about his ability/willingness to change?

o He does acknowledge that he “gets too upset” and has “done some things he regrets.”o He doesn’t say whether he’s interested in support to changeo Ultimately it’s the perpetrator’s behavior – far more than their statements about it –

that are telling about their willingness to change and progress towards safer relationships

Trainer’s Note: Some perpetrators will deny all/any reports of violence – or provide conflicting stories about what happened and why. Others will take partial responsibility and some will acknowledge much or all of what has happened. None of these responses is predictive of future safety – so don’t make the mistake of deciding that a perpetrator who is contrite won’t behave dangerously again – or that someone who denies everything won’t ever change.

How do you think it will go in the real life work to engage a perpetrator in discussions about this behavior? What will be the challenges of working with DV perpetrators to ensure accountability and to try to promote engagement?

Challenges may include:

Some perpetrators won’t engage with us.

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What we can do:

Attempt contacts using a variety of methods, written, phone, etc. Communicate the importance of their participation

“It’s important that I meet with you and hear from you about what occurred.” “You are an important member of the family and have a lot to contribute.” “Your kids clearly value you and I want to make sure I hear from you about your experience as a parent.”

Document efforts to contact perpetrator and their results (shut the door in my face, hung up, sent letter with return receipt and got confirmation of its delivery but heard nothing back, etc.)

Act quickly if the perpetrator is jailed – bring written material in case they will not meet with you

Some perpetrators aren’t biological parents so can’t be court ordered to do anything

What we can do:

Offer voluntary services. If the perpetrator continues involvement with the family, continue efforts to involve

them in solving the problems their behavior is causing We have a right to be involved with and make recommendations about anyone in

the household

Some perpetrators will say they want to change but won’t make efforts

What we can do:

As with our efforts with those struggling with addiction and other issues, we should keep pushing for the choices that we want to see and keep engaging around how we can get there.

When perpetrators attempt to manipulate and control us we should hold them accountable and identify the behavior and how it’s inappropriate.

It is important to identify progress and not simply compliance

I’m afraid that I’ll do or say the wrong thing and this will result in someone getting hurt

Possible response to the participant:

Be attentive to any indication that the situation or risks have changed - for yourself or the family

Practice good worker safety (meet in the office when needed)

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Remember that not meeting with the perpetrator also has consequences for everyone’s safety

The victim and local victim’s advocates are fantastic resources regarding safety (worker and family) concerns and how to approach things safely

Getting it sort of right is better than not getting it right at all – so do your best and TRY, rather than being paralyzed by the possibility of failure.

What about when perpetrators are unsafe to be part of their children’s lives, or fail to make progress towards changing their behavior?

From p. 78 “Some DV perpetrators cannot be safe parts of their children’s lives. If engagement efforts with DV perpetrators fail, and it appears that the DV perpetrators will not end their violent and coercive behaviors, CA’s work with DV victims and the victim’s children should focus on:

1. Protecting the children and the adult victims from the DV perpetrators’ coercive tactics2. Supporting the children’s relationships with the non-offending parents 3. Documenting the DV perpetrators’ unwillingness or incapacity to change”

Remember that if the perpetrator is a parent, we have to continue to make efforts to help them address their parenting deficiencies, including their perpetration of DV, until their parental rights are terminated or the case is closed.

Assessing and Supporting Child Safety

Why has the state asked social workers to do a Specialized DV assessment? What’s the goal of that process?

To understand the safety threats posed to children – including threats that stem from the only protective parent being physically incapacitated, traumatized, or terrorized to be able to protect or care for the children.

If we don’t understand the dynamics of the DV – the perpetrator’s tactics, their impact on the adult victim, the impact on the children, possible lethality and protective factors – then we CAN NOT make a judgment about the child’s safety.

Ask participants to review page 15-16 in their workbook for key safety framework information that’s specific to domestic violence.

Trainer’s Note: When an intake comes in as a result of an incident of violence between

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adults, it’s easy to look at the child safety concerns through the lens of that incident rather than doing a full specialized DV assessment. Without information about the dynamics of DV in that household, such an assessment probably doesn’t accurately capture possible safety threats and may lead to poor outcomes.

Activity #2 – Safety Assessment Practice

As a pair - take 15 minutes to identify what information from the Caldwell case should be in each of the 6 gathering questions. Use page 17 and 18 in your workbook to record your thoughts.

Report out

Handout the completed gathering questions for the Caldwell family. This includes some additional information found during work with the family that was not directly covered in the interviews we did today and yesterday. Have participants read this and compare to their thoughts.

De-brief – What are your overall impressions of the completion of the gathering questions? What are your initial impressions about whether the children are safe or unsafe?

As a team/pair – take 5 minutes and identify whether there are safety threats to the children? Remember that for a safety threat to be active the threat must meet all 5 threshold criteria.

Which threats and how does the threshold apply?

Is there a safety threat? (YES)

Safety Threat #4 is occurring “There has been an incident of domestic violence that impacts child safety.” Is active. A “The domestic violence perpetrator has caused serious harm or threats of harm against the adult victim/caregiver of the child” is true.

How do the safety threshold questions apply?

Severe Consequences? YES– based on previous serious violent behavior, and based on the fact that he physically assaulted a child in the course of a DV incident in the past, it’s

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reasonable to conclude that there could be serious consequences to any of the children should such a scenario occur in the future.

Immediate or near future? YES– We know based on prior experience that Mr. Caldwell previously acted safely immediately after a separation. However, his use of violence and other strategies of power and control are an ongoing part of his relationship, and he has not taken steps to address these, so it’s reasonable that an incident may occur again in the near future

Vulnerable child? YES- Rayanne is 5 and because of her behaviors and temperament would be extremely likely to end up targeted during an attack – particularly if she chose to intervene. Taylor is very little and has no ability to self-protect, but also is considered differently by Mr. Caldwell. Elizabeth may not be vulnerable, based on her previous track record of being able to leave during assaults.

Out of control? YES- Ms. Caldwell can’t control the behavior of Mr. Caldwell, though she does make attempts at keeping her children safe.

Specific, Observable, and Clearly understood? YES – we understand the behaviors that Mr. Caldwell chooses to use with his wife which endanger her and the children. This is an ongoing pattern that he has not taken steps to address.

Can we create a safety plan? (YES)

Parent/Caregiver in the home? YES Home calm enough? YES – it may not be when they are together but the family unit

(mom and kids) who have separated from Mr. Caldwell are calm enough Adults agree to cooperate? YES – Mrs. Caldwell has identified steps to protect herself

and kids. Mr. Caldwell seems likely to follow the terms of the restraining order based on prior behavior

Sufficient resources? YES – Mrs. Caldwell has involved the DV advocacy services in helping her file the restraining order. She’s relied on her mother for concrete and emotional support.

A safety plan will most likely be created in the context of an FTDM. There are specific protocols for FTDM meetings if DV is occurring. These should be followed for all cases where DV has been identified, regardless of whether there is an active protection order.

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Safety Plans for cases where DV is occurring

Activity #3, Part A– Safety Planning Review

Before we think through a safety plan for the Caldwell family, let’s go back to our other case, with 3-year-old Amira, to look at how they’re doing and to see a safety plan developed in their case.

Have participants read p. 19-20 on safety planning in the context of DV and the Bikilla case update.

In groups spend just a few minutes discussing how the FTDM should be handled and what the Safety plan might include.

Who should be invited to the FTDM in which the safety plan is created?

Consideration should be given to whether Mr. Hayes presence would allow for Ms. Bikilla to safely participate. If possible, the meeting should be held without him. However, the worker should consult with Ms. Bikilla to get her take on this. If she feels she’d be MORE unsafe with Mr. Hayes not in attendance, then we must consider having him.

When there is DV, and ALWAYS when there is a protection order in place, the primary meeting should exclude the DV perpetrator and anyone the DV victim feels is unsafe. A second meeting should take place afterwards with the DV perpetrator and the other participants, without the adult survivor.4

What should the safety plan include?

Provide about 15 minutes for this discussion. Here are the three considerations that should be addressed within this conversation.

Some provision to make sure that if Ms. Bikilla is drinking/using that she’s not the sole person in charge of Amira’s care/supervision/transportation. This may mean that, for now, she may not be able to have unsupervised access to Amira – or possibly that she not be able to leave the house with Amira unsupervised.

Should the safety plan prohibit Amira being around Mr. Hayes? Would her being around Mr. Hayes be unsafe? Would it be safe but negatively impact her? When we

4 FTDM practice guide (excluding participants section) https://www.dshs.wa.gov/sites/default/files/CA/pub/documents/FTDMPracticeGuide.pdf

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consider whether it’s a safety threat, threat #3 (A household member’s behavior is violent…) might be indicated, but we probably couldn’t determine that it meets the threshold, particularly with respect to serious consequences and imminence. Still, serious consideration should be given to structuring where and when someone with potentially dangerous behaviors might have contact with this child.

We should ask mom what she thinks would be a good idea to have on the plan (best practice regardless of DV).

We have the relative placement who can help. We may have other family members or friends, it’s not clear.

Handout Safety Plan for Amira Bikilla. There are certainly other plans/approaches that would also work to keep Amira protected (this is not the only “right answer”.)

Do you agree with the social worker’s description of the safety threat?The SW did not include threats from DV as these were not determined to be active/sufficient. That does not mean the DV shouldn’t continue to be monitored or the DV has no impact. Not everything is a safety threat, and safety threats are “deal breakers” when we can’t protect from them. Anything that’s not related to a safety threat does not belong on a safety plan, though can absolutely be part of a case plan or part of global assessment and support for the family.

Do you think the safety plan tasks are sufficient to protect Amira from the safety threat? They allow her to have some unsupervised time with Amira in a relatively controlled environment. The fact that she was ordered into outpatient treatment (rather than IOP or inpatient) may indicate her substance use has not progressed to a level that she can’t manage it at all – though it would seem as though she is struggling to manage it for more than a few days at a time. So far she’s been open about her use, which is helpful.

The clause that both mom and the aunt should notify the SW if any unsafe situations occur may be helpful if anything happens with her boyfriend. It would not protect Amira in the moment but may increase the odds that we’d know about something more quickly.

What do you think about the time frame identified? Safety plans should reflect the current circumstances. In a few weeks we may feel it’s more reasonable for her to have longer unsupervised time. There may be improvements or backsliding. Either way, it’s just hard to really do diligent monitoring of a plan for more than a few weeks.

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Activity #3, Part B– Safety Planning Practice

Now let’s work together to think about a safety plan that might work for the Caldwell children. Work in groups to complete a safety plan on p. 21, using resources we know or would imagine might exist for this family.

Before you start remind participants:

We should ask Mrs. Caldwell what would be helpful to her The protection order is NOT the entire safety plan. (Though in this situation there is

reason to believe it may be both effective and safe). We should have ongoing monitoring of the situation as it unfolds. This is a high risk

time.

Report out from groups about what they came up with.

Safety services for this family (possible options):

Protection order (since the victim decided this would be helpful and was panful about how to use it). Not every DV situation will require separation or a PO to ensure child safety.

Monitoring/support from MGM – she may stop by every night to see how Mrs. Caldwell and the children are doing. There may be a pre-agreed plan for if Mr. Caldwell has come to the house or is having contact with the children outside the terms of the safety plan. EG – “the family agrees that if Mr. Caldwell is at the home when MG arrives she’ll host the children at her home during the rest of the day and that night, and will call the SW within 2 hours of leaving. An emergency FTDM will be convened to reassess the safety plan.”If MG is going to have unsupervised access to the children, we’ll need a background check.

Involvement of DV Advocate – she may help by checking in, discussing services provided that might increase the mother’s safety, creating a safety plan with Mrs. Caldwell for if Mr. Caldwell returns to the home or if she feels like contacting him. The DV advocate must contact us if abuse/neglect is suspected.

Children’s school – can a counselor check in periodically with the girls about what is happening at home?

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Assigned social worker – can monitor both mom/children’s safety and can monitor perpetrator by checking with him and encouraging ongoing following of protection order.

Local law enforcement – could they be called during the first week to check in at the home? Would this make the family feel more safe? Would it deter the perpetrator from violating the PO? The DV advocate might know of actions that LE have been willing to use with other survivors during a week or two of particularly high risk. We should confirm any of these prior to putting them on a plan.

Activity #3, Reassessing the Safety Plan

Case Update: Over the next two weeks, you attempt to engage Mr. Caldwell in some case planning and make some headway in discussing his past behaviors. He seems more willing to acknowledge his choices though still invested in presenting the issue as a relationship problem. You meet with Ms. Caldwell once without the children and once with the children, both at her mother’s home, and have no specific concerns.

You come back from a weekend to a voicemail from the maternal grandmother that Mrs. Caldwell has moved back into the family home and reunited with Mr. Caldwell. The family allowed the grandmother to pick up the children as per the safety plan, though Mr. Caldwell protested a bit over Taylor going. The maternal grandmother would like for the children to be mandated to live with her. She additionally reports that she believes Mrs. Caldwell is using drugs again, saying she “had that vacant look that she gets when she’s getting high.”

Do we need to update the gathering questions and reassess safety?

Yes!

Trainer’s Note: The safety threat and threshold are unchanged by these new circumstances – as we completed them considering the entire family. However, the ability to safety plan may be compromised because we may not have two adults willing to abide by an in-home safety plan AND without a court order may not have sufficient resources.

Can we do an In-Home safety plan?

Probably not. Mr. Caldwell hasn’t yet done anything to change his behavior (though we’re happy that he’s more willing to engage with us) and we can’t rely on his promises. Mrs. Caldwell has – for whatever reason – decided that reuniting with Mr Caldwell is her best option right now.

How do we move forward?

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Be up front about the concern – it’s not currently safe for the children to live in the home, because Mr. Caldwell needs to work on managing his use of violence and control.

Engage both parents, but mom first, about what she thinks would keep her kids safe Discuss ways to have the children reside with maternal grandmother that would have

the least impact on mom’s safety and the kids’ lives Discuss the ongoing desire to work with the family to support both parent’s safety and

to support the children’s ability to live with them safely.

Trainer’s Note: The case update doesn’t mention whether the protection order was vacated. If it is still in effect, then Mr. Caldwell is in violation of it. He could be arrested for such a violation. It’s possible to call the police and have him arrested if he’s found there. That is an action that might have significant consequences on the safety of Mrs. Caldwell and the kids, so should be well thought out, and hopefully vetted with Mrs. Caldwell.

Additional note – are all children unsafe or just Rayanne? It’s possible that Mrs. Caldwell could adequately protect Elizabeth. And that Mr. Caldwell’s relationship with Taylor might make him safe (but still at risk). Rayanne’s behaviors and position as “trouble child” make her much more vulnerable and harder for Mrs. Caldwell to be able to protect.

Would Mrs. Caldwell accept an intervention that placed Rayanne with her mother? Or both the girls?

Last note – we will have to further investigate the allegation that she’s using drugs as to whether or not it’s having an impact on her ability to safely parent. That’s an important independent possible safety threat – though obviously may be tied to the ongoing DV in a variety of ways.

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Case Plans and Case Decisions

Optional Hook for this portion of the curriculum:

Humor me for a second and cross your arms in front of your body. Now try it with the other hand on top. Now interlace your fingers. Try it with the other hand on “top”

Both of these movements probably felt very strange the “wrong” way – because through the power of habit you have become accustomed to doing them in a particular way.

Habit is a powerful force. We have probably all had the experience of driving somewhere in our cars and “spacing out” only to realize that we were heading home or to work, despite the fact that this isn’t where we intended to be driving.

We’re about to talk about case planning and case decisions – which is something you do a lot of. Because domestic violence causes a particular set of constraints on our work with a family, there are special considerations for these actions in a family impacted by domestic violence.

This way to approach things might feel “wrong” at first, just like it felt “wrong” to put the other arm on top. We will provide information about why the recommendations are made, and how they support child and adult safety. We hope you’ll be open to hearing about how these approaches work, and how they’ve been successful in other child welfare systems.

Now let’s talk more specifically about case planning, safe case decision making, and appropriate services for perpetrators and victims.

This material is covered in the Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence on pages 76-80 in Part 6.

Take a look at the workbook, page 22-23, which lays out some tips for case planning in cases where DV is a central issue, and a sample case plan for the Bikilla case. Circle the items you find most (trainer, can choose one:) surprising, confusing, or counterintuitive.

Activity # 4 – Pair and Share – Reactions to Case Planning tips

Take 3 minutes and talk with the person next to you about these tips, and this case plan. Share what you circled and why.

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Large group discussion/report out

What were your reactions? Do you disagree with any of this? Why or why not?

General ideas to emphasize:

Our default position should be to partner with DV victims to help them plan to protect their children from the impacts of DV. This is true even when there are other issues impacting the DV victim’s parenting. The implication is that we consult with DV victims around how to work with their family safely and what plans they recommend related to the DV. This does not mean they get a “pass” around their own behaviors or concerns that may be creating safety threats. It does mean we understand those as part of a particular context, and we respect their right to safety even if they are making choices we don’t like.

Every intervention (service) we choose should be evaluated through the lens of whether it will support the victim be better able to protect the children, or decrease the perpetrator’s ability to cause harm. (Even when we know they need to work on their own challenges in order to be safe parents themselves)

Key question: “How many parenting classes will the adult survivor need to take to stop the abuser’s violent/controlling behavior?” If a DV victim is using unsafe or inappropriate parenting practices, this may be a very needed service. If the concern is actually the DV abuser’s parenting, or presence in the home, this service does nothing to address those but creates an additional burden on the DV survivor.

Specifics regarding Case Planning to emphasize:

The primary goal for the family is the protection of the children from physical violence and serious/toxic psychological stress.

The Goal for the batterer is to address the personal need to control others, and associated use of violence, in the family.

o There is a wealth of information on DV perpetrators as parents. While individual perpetrators have unique strengths and weaknesses as parents, as a group, their parenting can generally be characterized as erratic, inappropriate or harmful. Perpetrators often see themselves and their needs as the center of their relationships, and see violence, threats, intimidation and humiliation as acceptable means to ensure they will have their needs met. This is often as true in their parenting as it is in their intimate partnerships. (Eddleson, 2006) (Bancroft, 2011)

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o The current recommended service that supports this goal is a state certified Domestic Violence Perpetrator Treatment Program

Are there any questions about why the use of these programs are recommended, and not Anger Management or other approaches?

Trainer’s Note:The use of state certified DVPT or BIP programs, rather than anger management, couple’s counseling, mediation or non-certified approaches provided by other community organizations, is covered on p. 76 and 77. It’s important to be clear with participants about the possible danger of using such programs if they express any hesitation about this concept.

Participants may have questions about the efficacy of these programs. Do they actually work??? Research is vast and conflicting. You can table that for when a DVPT provider is here at the end of the day.

The Goal for the adult survivor will focus on whatever is interfering with his or her ability to appropriately parent and protect. This often means addressing a mental health or substance abuse issue.

Note that “learning about DV” or “DV Services” are not necessarily part of the adult survivor’s goal or plan to achieve it. Why?

Trainer’s Note: It is a big perspective shift for many people to NOT automatically have an objective that holds the victim responsible for the abuse or for protecting the children from it. It is the perpetrator’s job to stop the abuse and our job to help support both parents’ efforts toward protecting their children and adequately nurturing them.

Use pages 24-25 to address the common issue of how (voluntarily or via court order) to connect a DV survivor to DV specific advocacy services and what can and cannot be accomplished via such a connection. Reviewing this material may be optional as some groups have more anxiety about not automatically court ordering every survivor into a DV program than others.

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Activity # 5 – Caldwell Family Case Plan

Based on what we know about the case right now, and referencing the case plan tips we just read, what might a case plan for this family look like? Work with a partner to create an example on p. 26 of your workbook.

Trainer’s Note:It’s important that we create case plans WITH, not FOR families. However, if a member of the family doesn’t participate with us, we will have to move forward with a case plan of our own creation.

Hopefully in this case both parents would agree to work with us to create a case plan.

Activity # 5 – Caldwell Family Case Plan De-Brief

Report out:

What did you have for objectives/tasks for Mr. Caldwell?

State Certified DVPT should be included, anger management should not. If mental health counseling or assessment is included – what evidence is there that he

has a mental illness? DV is not a MI and can’t effectively be addressed by typical MH services. Counseling may be helpful in him changing his behavior but it would be very important for the counselor to be well grounded in DV and to be connected to his DVPT – otherwise this could easily end up just reinforcing his world view, and/or being part of a subsequent effort to abuse/harass Mrs. Caldwell when his MH counselor can say in court that Mr. Caldwell doesn’t have a MI or any indication of impairment but spends sessions worried about the behavior of his wife and its impact on the kids.

C/D services, drug tests may have been identified because of references by Mrs. Caldwell to his use, though it does appear that he’s not having any impact on his ability to work due to use.

Did you include any tasks that were “outside of the box” that supported him in trying to change his behavior? Why or why not? How might you get at what supports he might have (natural or cultural) to make positive change?

What did you have for objectives/tasks for Mr. Caldwell?

C/D services (possibly including drug tests) should be included

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How did you (or did you) address her victimization? If DV victims’ services were required or part of a task, what specific behavioral skill(s) (or other changes) do you believe will occur because of this service that will increase her ability to care for the children?

Did you include any tasks that were outside the box? That support her in being more free from coercion/violence, or better able to respond to it?

Any “Other items” in the court order?

Handout example Case Plan for Caldwell Family. Provide a few minutes for participants to review it.

Ask participants to respond first in their groups or in pairs, then in the large group (can skip to just large group if time is pressed).

Anything here that was surprising? Anything you disagree with?

Additional Case and Safety Plan Ideas for DV Cases

There are other ideas and options to increase safety and decrease coercive control and violence. These may or may not fit neatly onto a formal safety or case plan, but can still be part of what you do to support a family.

Use page 27 in the workbook to record your favorite ideas of the following:

Require all guns be removed from the home with acknowledgement of receipt provided (law enforcement can facilitate this whenever a PO has been issued because of DV or whenever a conviction related to DV has occurred)

Compliance with any criminal or civil court orders Ending specific tactics (e.g. Dad will put Mom’s names on the checking and savings

account by DATE, and ensure she has a debit card by DATE.) Moving out temporarily – with documentation provided on an ongoing basis – and not

moving back in without first notifying the SW Participating in visitation with the children under professional supervision (if

appropriate for the children) Addressing other issues that might interfere with compliance or undermine progress

(substance use/mental health, job search/skills, other)

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Keeping releases of information signed as to any service providers Supporting the adult victim’s parenting in specific ways (they will not give consequences

to the kids but will support the victim’s determinations about when and what consequences should happen, they will support alone time between victim and kids, etc)

Participating in parenting programs – particularly evidence based programs Supporting the child’s relationships with other trusted adults (ending isolation) and/or

with therapeutic interventions or supports Allowing/facilitating adult victim access to services and supports Paying child support, continuing to pay rent, or otherwise ensuring the protective

parent and children are not at risk of lacking for basic needs (when there is adequate money to do so)

When working on case plans for perpetrators we should also ask victims what they think the perpetrator will do when held accountable for his actions, and what might help. For instance, if the DV victim says she is afraid the perpetrator will sabotage her efforts to get clean by drinking in front of her, you could ask her what would help with that? She may have ideas about what she could do and also about what you could do that might help.

Trainer’s Note:

TIME WARNING – You may be only able to complete curriculum up to this point before you need to complete Activity #6 (the Action Plan) and the Provider’s Panel starts.

It’s recommended that you take a small break before the panel, and remind participants to be respectful of the time the community providers have taken to come share with them (at this point everyone is more than done and participants want to go home.) If there are just a few minutes it’s a great time to stretch, do a quick activity where they get up and move around. Maybe have them answer a question related to the material or complete part of the “Day 2 Self-Assessment” by walking and talking with a peer.

If you are done and there is 20 minutes or more before Activity #6 and the panel, cover the material in “Visitation, Placement, and Family Meetings.”

Visitation, Placement, Family Meetings

Visitation is covered on p. 79 and 80 of the Guide

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Space is provided on page 28 of the workbook to record important considerations about visitation.

What are some ways that visitation can have impacts on adult victim and child safety?

DV abusers may use ongoing visitation as a means to continue to harass and abuse victims

o Sending messages (explicit – tell your mom…, or implicit)o Getting information from the child about the other parent that is then used to

stalk, harass, make allegations, etco Creating hardships for victims by changing times, locations, etco Using contact at the time of the exchanges to intimidate or otherwise terrorize

the adult victimo Encourage the children to cause problems for the adult victim, disobey at home,

or delegitimize reasonable parenting DV abusers who also have abused or neglected their children, or are unsafe, should

have supervised visitation All parties, but particularly the visitation supervisor, should clearly understand the rules

and expectations about visitation

What considerations should we have when making decisions about visitation in this context?

Who will provide transportation/transfer the children?o This is a particularly risky time. o We should try to avoid direct contact between victims and abusers, which

includes planning for who will arrive where, when, and how will they be protected until they leave.

Trainer’s Note: Participants may be familiar with or bring up two incidents that receive a lot of media attention because of their disastrous outcomes.

Crystal Brame (Judkins) was murdered by her husband, then police Chief David Brame (who also killed himself in the incident), during a custody exchange of the children in a public parking lot.

Charlie and Braden Powell were murdered by their father (who also killed himself) immediately after a supervised visitation provider arrived with them to his home. He was under investigation for the disappearance of his wife, who is presumed dead.

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Certainly these aren’t representative of the typical outcome of visitation exchanges, but participants may bring them up and they are an unfortunate confirmation of the risk that exists during this time.

Should visits be supervised and by whom? How will visitation providers be supported to understand the risks and to intervene if

needed, including ending a visit? Where should visits take place? (considering safety and also what is most reassuring to

the children) Clear process for making changes and rules about late changes, cancelations, and no-

shows

What are some similar implications of placement of a child with the DV abuser or people closely allied to the abuser on the ability of the DV victim to stay safe and to make progress on issues impacting her parenting?

Many similar considerations to those regarding visitation The DV victim may not be able to really engage in services to help if they feel afraid or

are otherwise preoccupied by ongoing intimidation, manipulation, threats, etc – or by concerns about the child’s well being

Placement with people closely allied to the DV perpetrator may create barriers for the adult victim in making progress on individual issues and on safe access to the children. It also may have an impact on the children if the placement resources shares negative or hostile opinions about the adult DV victim. It’s something to consider when weighing considerations about which placement is in a child’s best interest.

What are some considerations for meetings in which we bring “the whole team” together?

It may not feel, and indeed may not be, safe to have the DV victim and the abuser in the same space.

If the DV victim doesn’t feel safe she can’t adequately participate in the meeting, share true concerns, speak truthfully to plans, etc., then the meeting won’t be successful. This means even participation by phone by the DV abuser or others allied with the abuser might be problematic.

We should follow the DV victim’s lead regarding what group of people are safe for her to share information about the DV with. It may not be appropriate for DV to be discussed in an open setting.

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While we should never have a meeting that asks anyone to violate an existing court order – safety concerns may be present even if a court order does not prohibit contact between the parties.

Activity #6 – Action Plan

Space is provided on page 29 of the workbook to record a personal plan to use and continue to improve the skills we’ve trained over the last two days.5

Domestic Violence Advocacy Services and Domestic Violence Perpetrator Treatment - Local Programs

Provider’s Panel

Arrange to have a representative from a local DV Advocacy organization and a local state certified DV perpetrator’s treatment program attend for a provider “Mini Panel.” Other possible providers are people from family court services PO programs.

Locating local providers:

Feel free to use your own connections or relationships to organize a Mini Panel. If you don’t know the providers in the area, here are some ideas to identify them:

For DV Advocacy programs you may want to consult the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence for their roster of programs by county: http://wscadv2.org/memberprograms.cfmThey also maintain a list of Tribal Advocacy programs.

To locate state certified DV treatment providers using a link on this DSHS internet page: https://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca/domestic-violence/domestic-violence-perpetrator-treatment

If it’s not possible to have local providers there, then before the training identify a few local providers’ websites and provide information about them and how to contact them.

Possible questions for the mini panel participants:o What services does your program offer?

5 Both having participants think about what they will change as a result of training AND having participants write about these changes are best practices that promote transfer of learning

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o Who qualifies for these services? Are children also served by your program? (Children’s groups are increasingly offered by Victims’ Advocacy services

o Are there costs associated? Financial assistance?o How does your program (or how could your program) work with a CA worker to

effectively support a family?o What resources or programs do you have that focus on victims/perpetrators as

PARENTS?o Do you provide any services to children?o Is there anything you really wish our staff understood better about the clients we

serve in common and their needs?

Closure

Optional Handout – Day 2 Self-Assessment. Participants may review this handout and ensure they can respond to all the questions.

Parking Lot items – Address them now if you can, direct participants to the guide, or reassure them that this will be covered in the last session.

Make sure everyone signed in so they will receive credit

Evaluations

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Attachment # 1

Lethality Assessment Case Scenario Trainer Discussion Guide

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Scenario A:

Indicators of possible elevated risk of lethality:

Recent separation –A victim’s separation from the perpetrator can elevate the danger as the perpetrator may feel a loss of control over the victim. The victim’s location and work location are known to the perpetrator so there would be easy access to the victim.

Stalking – the behaviors described here are stalking and highly controlling. These indicate the perpetrator feels entitled to control every aspect of the victim’s life, and will spend time and energy monitoring this.

POSSIBLY - Threats about consequences for leaving (lumping this in with threats to kill, although it’s admittedly not that clear)– In this case it would be helpful to ask the victim what the victim what she/he thinks is meant by “there will be consequences.” This is highly concerning in combination with past stalking

Alcohol abuse – alcohol abuse is frequently associated with increased violence in DV cases and is frequently associated with DV homicides

There are a few things in this scenario that might be protective factors:

The victim has a friend to stay with – which means the victim isn’t totally isolated

The perpetrator is employed. Employment might be important to the perpetrator so there may be a likelihood that criminal justice involvement would be an effective deterrent – however, this is not necessarily the case.

****No Weapon – is NOT a protective factor. It’s the lack of a risk factor. As an analogy, being visually impaired makes it very dangerous for you to drive, but having sight is not a protective factor that may lessen the likelihood of a collision.

Scenario B:

Indicators of possible elevated risk of lethality:

Access to a gun

History of sexual violence and intimidation - has been linked to lethality in some research and can contribute to suicidality of the victim.

This scenario includes several protective factors:

Victim is able to work and has formed some outside relationships (at least at church) without interference – which could mean the abuser does not see the victim as “his.”

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The presence and availability of the church community may be a protective fac tor if they endorse values of non-violence and gender equality. If not, there may be others in the greater religious community who might be able to offer that perspective here in a way that may provide support to the victim.

The victim is employed - she may have more access to financial resources and time away from the abuse

Scenario C:

Indicators of possible elevated risk of lethality:

Perpetrator depression – suicidality is the most serious concern associated with this factor, but general depression and hopelessness also increase the risk that this perpetrator will use serious or deadly violence

Escalating violence

Suffocation

Previous criminal history related to DV – this is concerning for 2 reasons. 1) it shows the stability of the perpetrator’s commitment to violence over time and in different circumstances and 2) it did not impact the perpetrator in a way that ended his negative behavior

Possible protective factors:

Victim oriented to the threat- the victim may be motivated to engage with others to help her plan a way to stay safe. This is different than saying that she’s responsible to protect herself or responsible for being in this situation. There may be a good opportunity to provide services/supports that increase her safety at this moment.

Scenario D:

Indicators of possible elevated risk of lethality:

None – The fact that there are not significant lethality indicators in this or any scenario doesn’t mean this is “safe.” Any act of violence can result in severe harm to a victim, children, the DV perpetrator, first responders, or social workers involved. We should never give a survivor the impression that they are safe in an ongoing violent situation, or that their experience is “not that bad” compared to others.

Violence and control are not part of healthy intimate relationships

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The purpose of lethality assessment is to ensure we intervene quickly and as best we can when possible signs of lethality are identified – not to dismiss or negate danger that may be present in any situation of ongoing domestic violence.

Possible protective factors:

History of respecting legal system/PO – the perpetrator respected that boundary in the past

Positive involvement in parenting – this is a way to engage the perpetrator about the impact of his behavior (did you know that what you’re doing to your kids’ mom actually has a negative impact on them?) and may indicate the perpetrator’s ability to engage some relationships in a healthy way – which would be a skill he could call on if he decided to change.

Scenario E:

Indicators of possible elevated risk of lethality:

Perceived loss of control over victim – the concerns from the school and the victim’s fighting back each may signal a lack of control to the perpetrator, which may in turn escalate the abusers’ control and/or violence

Perpetrator depression (this may not be an accurate assessment of the statement that he would be “nothing” without his wife, but it’s reasonable to be curious about whether that is a suicidal statement.)

Possible protective factors:

Perpetrator fears law enforcement and other repercussions – This may be helpful as a motivator to participate in change related services

Age of child – oldest child is mobile, and may be able to follow directions not to intervene, to leave the house, etc in the future.

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