Parenting by Men Who Batter: New Directions for Assessment and Intervention

What is the best way to work with fathers who have a history of abusive behavior toward their intimate partners? This question is among the thorniest that social service and criminal justice professionals must deal with in their careers, and this book examines the host of equally difficult issues that surround it. Beginning with the voices of mothers and fathers who speak about men's contact with and parenting of their children, the book then examines court and mental health services perspectives on how much involvement violent men should have in their children's lives. The second half of the book showcases programs such as the Boston-based Fathering After Violence initiative and the Caring Dads program in Canada, which introduce non-abusive parenting concepts and skills to batterers men who batter women and have developed useful guidelines for intervention with these fathers. This book distills the most relevant policy issues, research findings, and practice considerations for those who coordinate batterer programs or work with families, the courts, and the child welfare system. It guides professionals in understanding men who batter, assessing their parenting skills, making decisions about custody and visitation, and modeling treatment programs that engage fathers in their children's lives while maximizing safety.