Report
Children and technology-facilitated abuse in domestic and family violence situations
Publisher
Social media
Victims of family violence
Child protection
Child welfare
Digital communications
Family violence
Mobile telecommunications
Children
Mobile technology
Australia
Resources
Description
This research explores the role technology plays in children's exposure to family and domestic violence. It shows the impacts of technology-facilitated abuse and highlights the range of strategies used for protection and intervention.
The research is based on a survey of over 500 professionals who work with domestic and family violence cases, as well as focus groups with domestic violence specialist staff and interviews with young people, mothers and perpetrators.
Key findings:
- Over one quarter (27%) of domestic violence cases involve technology-facilitated abuse of children.
- This abuse typically involves everyday technologies such as mobile phones (79% of cases), texting (75%) and Facebook (59%).
- It causes real harm, negatively impacting children's mental health (67% of cases), their relationship with the non-abusive parent (59%) and their everyday activities (59%).
- The research highlights options for future action such as education, hands-on technology support, screening tools for professionals and extending phone replacement programs to older children.
Publication Details
Copyright:
Commonwealth of Australia 2020
License type:
CC BY-NC-ND
Access Rights Type:
open
Post date:
16 Dec 2020