Domestic violence: Protecting children by involving fathers and helping mothers

In Canada, an estimated half a million children witness domestic violence or spousal abuse. It is estimated that 30–60% are also maltreated themselves. The more severe the domestic violence, the more serious the child abuse and the more serious the children’s problems may be.

Two studies based on data gathered as part of the 1998 Quebec Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse, Neglect, Abandonment, and Serious Behavioural Problems (QIS) compared two groups of children reported to child welfare authorities:

• children whose cases were investigated by child welfare authorities and for whom the presence of domestic violence was identified for one of the parents living with them;
• children whose cases were investigated by child welfare authorities but in whose families the presence of domestic violence was not observed.