Domestic violence victims ‘undermined and blamed’ by social workers - report

Domestic violence victims are “undermined and blamed” by Tusla social workers, characterised as abusers in family law courts and not taken seriously by gardaí in some parts of the country, a report from the National Women’s Council and the Department of Justice has found.

Published on Wednesday, the Report on the Intersection of the Criminal Justice, Private Family Law and Public Law Child Care Processes in Relation to Domestic and Sexual Violence, highlights how many social workers remain untrained in the dynamics of domestic violence and focus on removing children into care rather than supporting mothers.

“We were told on numerous occasions [victims] found themselves held responsible for a failure to protect a child or children of the relationship and ... felt that they were themselves the wrongdoer, being left fearful that an application would be made to take that child or children from them,” say authors Nuala Egan SC and Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, adjunct professor of law at University of Limerick and former chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

“Such an experience runs entirely contrary to long-standing international research which makes it clear that a key principle in child protection is the protection of the adult victim.

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“This research, unfortunately, has also tended to support our experience that victims are undermined and blamed for a failure to [protect] their children.”

A systemic lack of understanding of the impact of domestic and/or sexual violence on victims is one of four key factors leading victims to withdraw from the legal process, according to the report. Other factors include the absence of a comprehensive court and non-court support service, long delays and the court-day experience.

Training in domestic violence is optional for social work students and should be mandatory, the authors say. “We also recommend that, post qualification, practising social workers undertake ongoing training to keep their knowledge up to date and in line with best practice”.

In private family law, the report says mothers who cite domestic violence risk being accused of fabricating the abuse to “alienate” the children from their father. Recourse to this “parental alienation” model appears to be “increasingly popular in courts in Ireland ... being raised by lawyers for alleged perpetrators as a means of cancelling out and even silencing allegations of domestic violence by a victim in the course of access or custody applications”.

[ Gardaí responding to domestic violence reports ‘every 10 minutes’ ]

“Increased use of this model in the courts ... has impacted upon the willingness of victims to even raise domestic violence before a court in applications for access or custody,” the report says. The effect “is to disregard a child’s voice, as the child was taken to be merely repeating the alienating parent’s views. If such a state of affairs prevailed ... that would effectively contravene the constitutional imperative that the voice of the child be heard in proceedings affecting them”.

The parental alienation model appears to be “in favour with some or possibly many of the expert assessors” appointed by courts to determine children’s interests and wishes, the report says. Given that courts “place considerable reliance” upon such assessors, “the impact of such an approach ... is most significant”.

“All persons assigned to undertake expert reports in both private family and public childcare proceedings must show evidence of accredited and ongoing training.”

While there had been a “sea-change” in victims’ experiences with specially trained gardaí working in protective services units, there was an apparent “but unexplained reluctance” by some gardaí to prosecute offences under section 33 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018 – for breach of protective, safety or barring orders.

“A number of interviewees expressed particular concern about the fact that it was common knowledge in certain areas that the gardaí would be unlikely to prosecute for such offences, and in other areas still that they would show limited interest in pursuing the matter,” the report says.

“We therefore recommend a Statewide review by An Garda Síochána of those practices.”

The Report on the Intersection of the Criminal Justice, Private Family Law and Public Law Child Care Processes in Relation to Domestic and Sexual Violence, published on Wednesday, stems from a Department of Justice initiative on “supporting a victim’s journey” through the justice process. This followed recommendations made by legal academic Tom O’Malley SC in a 2020 report commissioned by the Government.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact Women’s Aid (24-hour freephone helpline at 1800 341 900, email helpline@womensaid.ie) or Men’s Aid Ireland (confidential helpline at 01 554 3811, email hello@mensaid.ie) for support and information.

Safe Ireland also outlines a number of local services and helplines at safeireland.ie/get-help/where-to-find-help/. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.