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notes from the editor
Welcome to our first issue of the new millennium!
The present installment we've dubbed a "millennium progress
report on family violence". Though we at the Institute
are concerned with all forms of family violence, this issue's
focus is on partner abuse, children exposed to domestic violence,
child abuse, abuse of older persons and abuse of persons with
disabilities. These five areas are represented in this issue
by reports from individuals working in the fields of social
science research, and government, and social service practice.
Three questions were posed to our contributors:
1) What, in your opinion, have been significant advancements
in your area during the last decade?
2) What are current "hot topics" -issues, areas
of concern or debate?
3) What directions should research, policy and/or program
development take in the near future? Why?
I humbly offer my own responses here.
Research on the effects of family violence has been generally
very prolific and productive, which is a welcome development.
Although some areas are still underserved, effort in this
area has indisputably intensified and broadened in the last
decade. Great strides have been made in the area of long-term
outcomes of childhood maltreatment and exposure to family
violence (longitudinal and prospective studies), including
adult health outcomes. Additionally, much effort has been
made to articulate precise and meaningful definitions of the
various forms of maltreatment, most notably for psychological
maltreatment. We've also come to learn a lot more about the
various factors that positively and negatively contribute
to adjustment. What seems to emerge time and again is the
paramouncy of social support in ameliorating ill effects of
adverse experiences.
Therefore, future directions might include the following:
- The development of more parenting programs that can improve
community-based connections and reduce social isolation
- The installation of neighborhood houses and other local
gathering places which offer multiple social service access
(including suburban areas)
- Extracurricular programs for children (and their caregivers),
either in the school or the community, that rely upon community
and parental participation, and
- Most urgently-the influx of specially trained staff into
the school system (additional school counsellors, psychologists,
aides) who are charged with coming to know every child in
every class. We know that isolation is one of the greatest
risk factors for child maltreatment. And as the only obligatory
environment in which children may be found, the school setting
is the most logical place to direct attention and funding
to. It is in the school that the abused and/or neglected
child may experience his or her only respite from maltreatment,
and possibly where thechild's only, faint hope of receiving
support may come from. No, teachers need not become social
workers, but we must collectively admit to the school's
saving power and capitalize on its unique position to make
a real difference in the lives of suffering children by
placing qualified, regular, and permanent personnel in the
classrooms. Such individuals could make a difference not
only between connection and alienation, but potentially,
life and death. Let's face it-what is supposed to be happening
in the home, in a lot of homes, simply isn't. Recognition
of this fact does not mean we abandon education and other
prevention campaigns-many of which make an appreciable difference
in the lives of children and their parents. But how much
longer will we allow generations to suffer for worry over
"increasing state intervention" and through the
knee-jerk exercising of moral imperative? Just my opinion.
-Kai-Lee Klymchuk
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