Co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union (2014-2020) GUFOVA Policy Recommendations 1. Secure financing for Women’s Shelters, including for those dedicated to Black and minoritised women and children, should be made available to alleviate the impact on children of living with domestic violence, which costs at least, 0.5% of GDP. Adequate work with children affected by violence is only possible when Women’s Shelters are securely financed and able to guarantee sufficient employees and resources. Children must be explicitly named in this financing and not just kept in mind. There is also a need for more alternative safe accommodation for mothers with children, in particular sons over 16. 2. A comprehensive development plan for support work with children affected by domestic violence should be developed and linked to funding streams. It should recognise the issues and challenges faced by specific groups of children, such as children from minoritized groups, including children with disabilities. This should include the promotion and funding of groups for children and young people; secure funding for children’s workers in shelters; expansion and funding of counselling centres for children and young people. Comprehensive quality standards should be developed and implemented for children and young people’s counselling in cases of domestic violence. 3. In questions of custody and access, children as well as mothers must be given time to settle in a safe environment and work through the effects of the violence they have experienced. A quick legal clarification is advantageous, but not when this is to the advantage of the abuser and overrides the right of children to a life free of violence. Statistics show that the period of separation is the most dangerous time for a woman and child. It is essential to prevent children being used during access/contact to continue to abuse women and the children themselves. Child welfare is always the main priority and there should be no automatic right to child contact following domestic violence. Contact with a child should not take precedence over protecting victims. 4. Domestic violence perpetrator programmes must be available and compulsory for offenders. These must include work on the paternal role to allow perpetrators/fathers to work on their role and practice violent free contact with their children and ex- partners. This work must be compulsory and required before child contact is resumed. There must be comprehensive quality standards established for such work to include the participation of children’s and victim’s services to ensure child and victim safety before any contact is resumed. There should be no automatic right to child contact in the context of domestic violence on the part of the abusing parent. Comprehensive parenting assessments should be undertaken, involving the non- abusing parent and children before contact is ordered. 5. Psycho-social support for children and young people in court cases should be compulsory. Children and young people must be involved and given a serious and age-appropriate hearing by all involved. Comprehensive assessment of children’s wishes and rights about contact with the abusing parent should be undertaken in all cases where domestic violence is an issue. Counselling centres must be recognised and involved before any legal decision relating to contact and custody is made. Co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union (2014-2020) 6. Supervised, safe child contact must be made more available by: a. Expanding facilities. b. Avoiding waiting lists in cases of domestic violence. c. Applying standards established by parental counselling centres in cases of domestic violence. 7. Policy makers must recognise violence against women and children as a structural problem. If women are prevented from separating from their abusers by legal barriers, children are kept in abusive families. Women and children require a legal basis of residency rights independent of marriage, financial support and, if necessary, protection from deportation to remove these barriers. Migrant children, regardless of their immigration status, should be protected in line with the host country’s Child Protection Legislation and UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (Articles 6,19,22,26) to avoid the abnegation of their rights. This should also include the safety and protection of their non-perpetrating mother/carer (Article 9). A precarious status for women always results in a precarious situation for children. 8. Specialist provision, that is organisations led by and for Black and minoritised women, should receive ringfenced funding in relation to the funding and commissioning of services for domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, that support children and young people to ensure that Black and minoritised children receive equitable and socio-culturally appropriate support and care. 9. Shelter for girls under 18, inter, non-binary, trans and agender people in all cities and rural areas must be available and financed like Women’s Shelters. There should be no automatic right to child contact in the context of domestic violence on the part of the abusing parent. Comprehensive parenting assessments should be undertaken, involving the non-abusing parent and children before contact is ordered. 10. Establishing and implementing restraining orders to protect under 18s from domestic violence and intimate partner violence should be simplified. In dangerous situations it must be possible to do this without the participation of the custodial parent. 11. Training on domestic violence should be made mandatory for all professionals who work with children and young people, to include: a. Teen dating violence b. Sibling violence c. The threat of forced marriage d. Issues encountered by Black and minoritised children e. Witnessing domestic violence. These topics must be included in the curriculum for training childcare workers, social workers, police, judiciary, teachers and trainers/facilitators. Ongoing compulsory refresher courses should be provided. 12. Policy makers must implement the minimum requirements of the Istanbul Convention. Specifically for Austria In cases of domestic violence there should be no phase of parental responsibility and no counselling of both parents together. Each parent should be counselled separately. Co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union (2014-2020) If the perpetrator/father agrees to and upholds certain rules and proves himself capable of being a good father, contact to his child can take place and be extended step by step. It is paramount that witnessing violence is recognised as child abuse and, therefore, it cannot be in the interests of a child to allow unlimited contact without strict constraints on the perpetrator of violence.
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