Coercive Control and Children’s Welfare

Coercive Control and Children’s Welfare: Supporting safeguarding practitioners to work safely and effectively with families experiencing domestic abuse.

The Shared Services' VAWG Strategic Partnership and Standing Together against Domestic Violence will be marking this year’s International Women’s Day by hosting a seminar on domestic abuse with international experts Professor Evan Stark and Dr Emma Katz. With recent changes in domestic abuse legislation, this event will explore the challenges of working with families where coercive control is present, look at the impact on children and on mothering and the practical dilemmas this poses in relation to safeguarding procedures.

About the speakers:

New York award winning researcher, advocate and forensic expert Professor Evan Stark has revolutionised the domestic abuse field by first coining the term “coercive control”. He has reframed our understanding of domestic abuse as a liberty crime and a human rights violation.

Dr Emma Katz has pioneered the approach of investigating how children are harmed by coercive control (not only physical violence) in domestic abuse contexts. How children resist coercive control and what helps them to recover from it are also important strands in her research. Emma is Lecturer in Childhood and Youth at Liverpool Hope University. Her research into children and coercive control has recently been awarded ‘Best Publication of the Year’ by Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE).

This event will also include a panel discussion with:

Clare Chamberlain, Executive Director of Children's Services Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster

Meghan Field, Shared Services Violence Against Women and Girls Strategic Lead

Event timetable

9.30 to 10am Registration and coffee

10am Event starts

12 to 12.30pm Q&A with panel

PLEASE NOTE - filming and photography make take place during the event. If you have any concerns, please speak to a member of staff on the day.