The role of shelters for victims of violence in the eyes of children

Abstract

Traditionally public policies on domestic violence rely on the idea that this is primarily a gendered and adult problem to which children may be secondarily exposed and, as such, be indirectly victimized. These policies, especially focused on the protection of women victims of violence, often involve their children, since they accompany them. Thus, the services originally intended for adult victims frequently face the challenges of addressing the needs of these children. More recently the growing evidence of the harmful and traumatic impact on children of witnessing domestic violence led to the abandonment of the idea of indirect victimization and to the redefinition of the notion of exposure to domestic violence. Hereinafter children living in violent households will be considered direct victims subjected to violence as their mothers are. The recent understanding of children as victims in their own right of the violence that occurs in their households, with specific needs to address, does not have yet a systematic and consistent formal expression into domestic violence policies. Given the disruptive character of the experience of domestic violence and of the experience of sheltering in a non-normative context, it is worthwhile to study to what extent these services meet the needs of these children, particularly from their own perspective, how they perceive this events and their impact on their lives. In this chapter, based on empirical research conducted with children victims of domestic violence, we will examine their experience and perspective of domestic violence and of the role played by shelters for victims of violence and the services they provide. Implications for professional intervention and public policies are fully discussed.