Assessing Risk To Children From Batterers

This document provides an overview of potential sources of physical and psychological injury to children from contact with batterers, details recommendations for evaluating the risk to children and provides assessment guidelines that professionals can apply in cases where a batterer admits to a history of abusiveness by asserts that he has changed. Information is also provided regarding the necessary context for children's recovery from exposure to battering behavior. Authors' Summary: "Children exposed to battering behavior can benefit tremendously when professional have knowledge of the range of risks that batterers present to children, and when a systematic risk assessment tool is applied by child protective services and family courts. It is our hope that the model we are proposing here can serve as a launching point for the development of increasingly refined and sophisticated approaches to protecting children exposed to men who batter and to fostering their healing."