'"During this time of crisis, adapting our work with families impacted by perpetrators’ behaviors is a critical task. Disasters and crises are associated with a differential impact on vulnerable individuals and families. (Jenkins & Phillips, 2008; Molyneaux et al., 2020) The COVID-19 outbreak and the stresses of the social responses is affecting a wide swath of our societies including adult and child domestic abuse survivors. The Safe & Together Institute is committed to doubling its efforts during this time to provide critical and useful information and virtual options for training and support. The following is the first in a series of COVID-19 specific practice-oriented blog posts.
Using a perpetrator pattern-based approach to assess domestic abuse is more important than ever. As the effects of the pandemic and social distancing ripple through our communities, all aspects of everyday life are being impacted. Many families are experiencing multiple changes in their routines at the same time. For example, most children are now home all day due to closings of daycare and schools; one or both parents are now at home due to transitioning to telework, the loss of their job, or self-isolation. This is all occurring in an environment of general increased anxiety for the health and safety of loved ones, rising financial worries and in some cases, immediate health concerns for a family member sick with the coronavirus.
Like everyone else, perpetrators of domestic abuse are likely to adapt their behavior to the current circumstances, but not necessarily in good ways. The effects of the coronavirus outbreak may have implications for the perpetrators’ patterns of behaviors and on child and family functioning."
For more information on this topic, see VAWnet's Disaster and Emergency Preparedness and Response special collection.
