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Exploring how children subjected to violence in the home cope with experiences in Secure Training Centres
1Institute for Social Innovation and Impact, University of Northampton, University Drive Waterside Campus, Northampton NN1 5PH, United Kingdom.
Insights
Children exposed to violence at home often face similar violence in Secure Training Centres, hindering their coping abilities. This study explores their experiences and suggests trauma-informed care for better support.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Criminology
- Social Work
Background:
- Violence in the home affects a significant percentage of children in the UK.
- Children in custodial settings, such as Secure Training Centres, are a particularly vulnerable population.
- A high proportion of children in Secure Training Centres have experienced violence in the home.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how children subjected to domestic violence cope with their experiences.
- To examine children's encounters with restraint methods within Secure Training Centres.
- To understand the relationship between prior violence exposure and in-custody treatment.
Main Methods:
- The study involved thematic analysis of secondary data from semi-structured interviews.
- Participants included 15 children and 15 staff members in a Secure Training Centre for boys aged 12-18.
- Four key themes were identified: 'Struggling to cope with abuse', 'Substance use as a coping mechanism', 'Disjointed service delivery', and 'Mirroring violence in the home through normalised restraint'.
Main Results:
- Children with a history of domestic violence in custody are subjected to violent behavior management techniques.
- These practices mirror the violence experienced in their homes.
- Normalised violence in custody impedes the development of healthy coping mechanisms, relationships, and attitudes.
Conclusions:
- Understanding 'what works' is crucial for supporting children exposed to violence.
- Effective services require collaboration, a focus on violence reduction, and trauma-informed practices.
- Interventions should aim to break the cycle of violence and promote positive development.
Background:
Violence in the home is recognised as a significant problem, with around 29.5 % of children subjected to violence in the home at some point in the United Kingdom (Radford et al., 2013). Children in custodial environments are a particularly vulnerable group in society (McAra & McVie, 2010), with 51 % of the children in Secure Training Centres subjected to violence in the home (Paterson-Young, 2018).
Objective:
The purpose of this paper is to explore how children subjected to violence in the home cope with violence and experiences with restraint in Secure Training Centres.
Participants And Setting:
The research was conducted with children and staff in a Secure Training Centre that accommodates boys aged between 12 and 18 years-old in England.
Methods:
Thematic analysis was used to analyse secondary data, originally collected by the author, from semi-structured interviews with children (N = 15) and staff (N = 15) in Secure Training Centres. It led to the identification of four themes: 'Struggling to cope with abuse', 'Substance use as a coping mechanism', 'Disjointed service delivery' and 'Mirroring violence in the home through normalised restraint'.
Results:
The findings illustrate that children in custodial environments who have experienced violence in the home are subjected to violent behaviour management techniques in custody, mirroring their experiences in the home. This normalised violence inhibits the development of positive coping mechanisms, relationships, and attitudes towards violence.
Conclusions:
Enhancing our understanding of 'what works' in supporting children subjected to violence allows for the development of effective and sustainable services founded on collaboration, violence reduction, and trauma-informed practices.