ABSTRACT
The intersection of the intimate partner violence and child protection systems offers unique opportunities for reconciling the often conflicting aims of ensuring safety and well-being for mothers and their children while engaging with men in the aftermath of their violent behaviour. This is accomplished through the use of a restorative justice approach that adopts community-centred child and family practices (Burford and Hudson 2000, Pennell and Anderson 2005) while using protective measures as needed (Braithwaite 2002), embraces both families’ and children’s rights in a framework of family engagement (Pennell et al. 2011), and draws from theories associated with gender-inclusive feminism (Pennell and Kim 2010). Gender-inclusive feminism positions family, community and culture at the heart of children’s and women’s safety and responsible fathering. Such approaches are based on both the rights of the child to be connected to their families and the rights of families to have their culture respected. The approaches seek to increase and improve the engagement of fathers and mothers in the lives of children. This is based on the simple assumption that things go better for children when the adults in their lives are cooperating in the children’s best interests but also takes into account managing the risks associated with men’s behaviour when they have been violent while recognizing how important fathering and mothering are in child development and well-being (Featherstone 2010a, 2010b, Scourfield et al. 2012). In short, we acknowledge both the high levels of injury and positivity of which men are capable with their children and other members of their families. The nexus of family violence and children’s protection sheds light on fathers and fathering without, as Featherstone (2010b) says, erasing the importance of mothers and mothering and thereby takes a position that advances gender inclusiveness and family support.
