The Batterer as Parent

Jay Silverman is Professor of Medicine and Global Public Health at the University of California at San Diego. He is a developmental psychologist with 20 years of experience in domestic violence, including direct counseling experience with hundreds of men who batter. He has led multiple, large-scale international and domestic research programs on issues of gender-based violence against women and girls; this work has resulted in more than 100 peer-reviewed studies. His research has included examinations of the social contextual influences on the etiology of male-perpetrated partner violence, the nature and health consequences of adolescent dating violence, history of child abuse among men who perpetrate partner violence, judicial behavior and the experiences of battered mothers in child custody cases, the role of partner violence in men's transmission of HIV to their female partners, the nature and HIV risks associated with trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation, and the roles of partner violence in unintended and teen pregnancy, coercion regarding abortion, pregnancy loss, and infant and child morbidity and mortality. Lundy Bancroft has 14 years of counseling and clinical supervising experience in over 2,000 cases working with batterers. He also served extensively as a custody evaluator and child abuse investigator, appeared as an expert witness in child custody and welfare cases, and led groups for teenage boys exposed to domestic violence. He has been training judges, probation officers and other court personnel on men who batter and on battering's effects on children. He co-authored articles in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Contemporary Psychology and is co-creator of two nationally marketed curricula, one for working with batterers and one for teen-dating violence in schools. In addition, he completed a study for the state of Massachusetts on approaches to meeting the service needs of children exposed to domestic violence.

1. The Battering Problem Defining Batterers Characteristics of Batterers Misconceptions About Batterers Summary 2. Power Parenting: The Batterer's Style With Children Typical Characteristics of Batterers as Parents Effects on Children of Exposure to Domestic Violence Child Abuse The Batterer as Role Model Children's Outlook on the Batterer Summary 3. Shock Waves: The Batterer's Impact on the Home Undermining of the Mother's Authority Effects on Mother-Child Relationships Use of Children as Weapons Against the Mother The Batterer's Impact on Other Aspects of Family Functioning Resilience in Mother-Child and in Sibling Relationships Summary 4. The Batterer as Incest Perpetrator - Lundy Bancroft and Margaret Miller Review of Studies The Predatory Child Molestor Versus the Incest Perpetrator Shared Tactics of Batterers and Incest Perpetrators Shared Attitudes of Batterers and Incest Perpetrators Implications of the Overlap for Professional Response Sexual Abuse Allegations in Custody and Visitation Disputes Summary 5. Impeding Recovery: The Batterer in Custody and Visitation Disputes Creating a Context for Children's Healing Batterers' Postseparation Conduct With Children Batterers' Motivations for Seeking Custody or Increased Visitation Batterers' Advantages in Custody Disputes Batterers' Tactics in Custody and Visitation Disputes Effects on Children of Custody Litigation Summary 6. The Mismeasure of Batterers as Parents: A Critique of Prevailing Theories of Assessment Influential Theories of Divorce The Use of a Domestic Violence Typology to Assess Risk to Children The Overlooked Implications of Johnston, Campbell, and Roseby's Own Observations Summary 7. Supporting Recovery: Assessing Risk to Children form Batterers and Structuring Visitation Sources of Risk to Children From Unsupervised Contact With Batterers A Guide to Assessing Risk to Children From Batterers Structuring Custody and Visitation Summary 8. Is It Real?: Assessing and Fostering Change in Batterers as Parents Steps to Change in Batterers Misconceptions Regarding Change in Batterers Evaluating Change in Batterers as Parents Creating a Context for Change Summary 9. Improving Community Responses to the Parenting of Batterers Child Therapists, Family Therapists, and Programs for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Custody Evaluators Family Courts Agencies and Courts With Child Protective Jurisdiction Parent Trainers Psychological Evaluators Batterer Programs Battered Women's Programs Supervised Visitation Centers Family Lawyers and Bar Associations Summary References Index About the Authors