A GROUND-BREAKING Tasmanian study into children and domestic violence is turning stereotypes on their head, researchers say. The University of Tasmania project Experiences of Childhood Family Violence is examining how young people deal with situations where the father is abusing the mother. So far it has found that children aren't the passive victims that traditional research has pegged them as. PhD candidate Ella Murphy said she came up with the idea after working with children from violent homes. "They actively engage with parents - both perpetrators and victims of abuse - and some of the time they take an active role in protecting others in their family as well as themselves," she said. "I just didn't think that the research was capturing [that], and as a result I think it stories them in a way where they are expected to be passive or victims, and I think that's damaging for children." Her UTAS supervisor, Torna Pitman, said previous research had not engaged with childhood victims of domestic violence. "The stories people are able to tell ... are quite mind-blowing in what they've done to manage," she said. "It is so heroic and so resilient and so powerful it completely puts the literature on its head about being traumatised victims who might end up being perpetrators themselves. That is a really common and unwarranted discourse." The project has been under way for more than a year but has just recently called for Tasmanians to come forward with their childhood experiences of domestic violence. At first the researchers were planning to interview children but the bureaucratic obstacles saw them switch focus to adults. Part of the project is now helping adult victims realise that their methods of coping when they were growing in a violent household are something to be proud of. "It's a sad project, it hits hard - some of these people being interviewed have never told this story. They haven't necessarily known it's a story worth telling," Dr Pitman said. "We're going back from older to younger - by doing that we can help younger children who haven't yet got that hindsight as older people have." Ms Murphy said there was a knowledge gap in how best to treat childhood survivors of family violence - something she hopes her research can change. "I'm hoping it can put another perspective out there about children and recognise some of their strength to influence the way we work with children," she said. ■ If you are 18 or over, experienced family violence as a child and would like to contribute to the study, please text "info" to 0455 668 824. pbillings@examiner.com.au
A GROUND-BREAKING Tasmanian study into children and domestic violence is turning stereotypes on their head, researchers say.
The University of Tasmania project Experiences of Childhood Family Violence is examining how young people deal with situations where the father is abusing the mother.
So far it has found that children aren't the passive victims that traditional research has pegged them as.
PhD candidate Ella Murphy said she came up with the idea after working with children from violent homes.
"They actively engage with parents - both perpetrators and victims of abuse - and some of the time they take an active role in protecting others in their family as well as themselves," she said.
"I just didn't think that the research was capturing [that], and as a result I think it stories them in a way where they are expected to be passive or victims, and I think that's damaging for children."
Her UTAS supervisor, Torna Pitman, said previous research had not engaged with childhood victims of domestic violence.
"The stories people are able to tell ... are quite mind-blowing in what they've done to manage," she said.
"It is so heroic and so resilient and so powerful it completely puts the literature on its head about being traumatised victims who might end up being perpetrators themselves. That is a really common and unwarranted discourse."
The project has been under way for more than a year but has just recently called for Tasmanians to come forward with their childhood experiences of domestic violence.
At first the researchers were planning to interview children but the bureaucratic obstacles saw them switch focus to adults.
Part of the project is now helping adult victims realise that their methods of coping when they were growing in a violent household are something to be proud of.
"It's a sad project, it hits hard - some of these people being interviewed have never told this story. They haven't necessarily known it's a story worth telling," Dr Pitman said.
"We're going back from older to younger - by doing that we can help younger children who haven't yet got that hindsight as older people have."
Ms Murphy said there was a knowledge gap in how best to treat childhood survivors of family violence - something she hopes her research can change.
"I'm hoping it can put another perspective out there about children and recognise some of their strength to influence the way we work with children," she said.
■ If you are 18 or over, experienced family violence as a child and would like to contribute to the study, please text "info" to 0455 668 824.
