Better interagency collaboration is needed to help families when children are exposed to domestic violence, according
to Ted Cross, a faculty member in social work and co-author of a study that examined legislative reporting duties in Australia, Canada and the U.S.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Each year, millions of children are exposed to domestic violence, a traumatic experience that has been associated with cognitive, behavioral, social and emotional problems in childhood as well as a higher incidence of depression and premature death in adulthood. Numerous studies over the past two decades also have indicated that exposure to domestic violence (EDV) places children at higher risk of abuse and neglect. "EDV poses substantial risk to children, but there hasn't developed the kind of response as there has been in other forms of child maltreatment," said Ted Cross, a faculty member in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois and a co-author of a recent study that examined mandated reporting practices in EDV cases. "With other forms of maltreatment, there are actions that directly affect the child and directly connect to a caregiver's or another adult's response to the child. EDV doesn't have that specific event that will often trigger a child-welfare investigation. "Although Australia, Canada and the U.S. are taking action to try to address this problem, I'd say we're still in the really early stages of dealing with this as societies." Cross led an international panel of experts in law, public health and social work in a study of child-welfare policy and practice related to EDV in Australia, Canada and the U.S. Other co-authors on the study were Ben Mathews and Debbie Scott, faculty members at Queensland University of Technology, Australia; and Catherine Ouimet and Lil Tonmyr, officials at the Public Health Agency of Canada.
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