Published online 11 May 2009 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/car.1065 Making an Impact: Children and Domestic Violence: A Reader by Marianne Hester, Chris Pearson and Nicola Harwin, with Hilary Abrahams, Jessica Kingsley, London, 2007. 287pp. Second Edition. ISBN 1-84310-157-2 (Pbk) 22 The second edition of Making an Impact is a welcomed updated version of the seminal text. In this edition, the Reader has been completely revised to take account of recent developments that have taken place since the publication of the first edition in 2000. The Reader is composed of three main sections. The first section sets the scene and addresses what is known about domestic violence, the link between domestic violence and child abuse, and its traumatic and devastating effects on children. The chapters in this section synthesise current knowledge and provide a comprehensive overview of the research base to explore the key concerns for practice. The research that draws on childrens own perspectives in this section is particularly illuminating. Part Two addresses legislative developments and remedies for safeguarding childrens welfare and has been extensively updated to take account of changes, in particular: the Every Child Matters agenda, the new remedies under the Domestic Violence and Crime Bill (2004) and the Adoption and Children Act 2002, which amended the definition of harm in the Children Act (1989) to include impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. Part Three of the Reader deals with practice interventions and provides a wealth of information for furthering understandings of how practice might be improved for safeguarding children. I found this section to be particularly insightful in giving a clear account of the complexities surrounding practice interventions. Child and family social workers can draw much from this research to expand understanding for multi-professional working. The chapter on working with male perpetrators has been updated to take account of the more recent research evidence on perpetrators programmes, as well as violence and fathering. As the authors note, assessing the parenting capacity of fathers in the context of domestic violence is often an area that practitioners struggle with in practice. Central to any discussion of safeguarding childrens welfare in situations of domestic violence is the assessment of risk posed by fathers, or by men who take father-figure roles in childrens lives. This chapter provides powerful insights into mens minimisation and denial, and challenges us to engage more fully with asking the difficult questions about violent and abusive behaviour in assessing the safety of mothers and their children. The last chapter in the Reader is new and its focus is on working with and supporting women living with domestic violence. Hester et al. unpick the mother-blaming discourse and offer an informative base from which to make assessments of womens mothering in the context of domestic violence. Whilst putting forward the importance of understanding the complex realities for mothers, there are also good explorations of the tensions inherent in ensuring that the right balance is struck between supporting mothers around their own needs, without losing sight of the specific needs of their children. Making an Impact succeeds in its aims, which are to review existing knowledge and to examine the remedies for effective interventions in the Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Book Review Edited by Jacqui Casher
The Reader has
been completely revised to take account of recent developments that have taken place since the publication of the first edition in 2000
Child and family
social workers can draw much from this research to expand understanding for multi-professional working
Child Abuse Review Vol. 18: 215216 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/car
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An accessible and practical book and represents an important resource for practitioners working in child and family welfare
Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Book Review
field of domestic violence. The authors provide extensive overviews of
the research on domestic violence and cover a range of substantive areas to illuminate current knowledge on appropriate practice interventions and legal responses. Case study materials are used throughout the book to highlight key issues and provide a set of tools for practitioners and trainers. It is an accessible and practical book and represents an important resource for practitioners working in child and family welfare. Dr Claudia Bernard Senior Lecturer in Social Work Department of Professional and Community Education, Goldsmiths, University of London Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/car.1065