When Coercive Control Continues to Harm Children: Post‐Separation Fathering, Stalking and Domestic Violence

Abstract

This article shows how domestic violence perpetrators can use coercive control against their children after their ex-partner has separated from them. Coercive control can include violence, threats, intimidation, stalking, monitoring, emotional abuse and manipulation, interwoven with periods of seemingly 'caring' and 'indulgent' behaviour as part of the overall abuse. Crucially, what this article provides is knowledge, hitherto largely missing, about how children and young people can experience coercive control post-separation. The article draws on two separate data sets, one from the UK and one from Finland, which together comprise qualitative interviews with 29 children who had coercive control perpetrating fathers/father-figures. The data sets were separately thematically analysed, then combined using a qualitative interpretative meta-synthesis. This produced three themes regarding children's experiences: (1) dangerous fathering that frightened children and made them feel unsafe; (2) 'admirable' fathering, where fathers/father-figures appeared as 'caring', 'concerned', 'indulgent' and/or 'vulnerablevictims'; and (3) omnipresent fathering that continually constrained children's lives. Dangerous and 'admirable' fathering describe the behaviours of coercive controlperpetrating fathers/father-figures, while omnipresent fathering occurred in children as a fearful mental and emotional state. Perpetrators could also direct performances of 'admirable' fathering at professionals and communities in ways that obscured their coercive control. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Vulnerable Children and Early Intervention – What about Health Visiting?

“…There thus appeared to be gaps in what early intervention services could offer and what families also needed and/or wanted, especially in situations where a victim/survivor was still living with the perpetrator or when the child or young person was having post-separation contact with the perpetrator. Holt (2020) and Katz et al (2020) have previously highlighted the ongoing risks of significant harm in domestic abuse cases following separation. In such cases, while high-risk DV support services might have been withdrawn, family needs were ongoing, with different risks being faced by the children and their mothers.…”

“…Holt (2020) and Katz et al . (2020) have previously highlighted the ongoing risks of significant harm in domestic abuse cases following separation. In such cases, while high‐risk DV support services might have been withdrawn, family needs were ongoing, with different risks being faced by the children and their mothers.…”

‘I’m trying to tell you this man is dangerous… and no one’s listening’: family violence, parent–school engagement and school complicity

“…Researchers concerned specifically with the role of schools in the lives of children and parents affected by family violence point out that 'Given the multiple effects of domestic violence, teachers and support staff in schools need to be equipped with knowledge, understanding and skills to identify and respond to internalized and externalized symptoms' (Lloyd 2018, n.p.). While a detailed discussion of the effects of family violence on children is beyond the scope of this paper, it is the subject of a significant body of research (see, for example, Callaghan et al 2018;Katz 2016;Katz et al 2020;Lloyd 2018;Schneider et al 2020), including research indicating that schools can be an important site of safety, continuity and support for children (Ellis et al 2015;Lloyd 2018;Stanley 2011). As one research team puts it, 'For children who experience problems in their family, preschool and school can offer relief in difficult life situations' (Eriksson et al 2013b, p. 1).…”

Safeguarding Children and Young People During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

“…This combined data set offers an insight into the tactics fathers and father figures use to exert coercive control from children's perspectives. Three important themes are discussed in the paper including: ‘dangerous fathering,’ where children are made to feel frightened and unsafe by threats, intimidation, violence and/or stalking; ‘admiral’ fathering, described in the children's narratives as ‘their father/father figure playing the roles of a caring, indulgent, concerned and/or vulnerable‐victim father’ (Katz et al, 2020, p. 317); and omnipresent fathering in which children experienced a fearful mental and emotional state.…”

“…Katz et al . (2020, p. 322) conclude their paper by stressing the need for agencies to develop much more robust responses to fathers perpetrating coercive control and to identify and support children and young people ‘as direct victims/survivors of coercive control’ and prioritise ‘their rights to be free of this abuse.’…”