MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Informing Social ... - Amen

5. How available/accessible are services for male victims of domestic violence?
Absolutely none I don’t think, I know that the domestic violence social workers
only work towards women, and might be looking at changing this, because this is
out and out discrimination. I’m not aware of any place in Ireland.
6. Is the law gender neutral when it comes to male victims of domestic
violence?
• Safety, Barring, Interim Barring, and Protection Orders.
• Custody, Access, Maintenance and/or Guardianship Proceedings.
I really couldn’t answer that question, but I wouldn’t say its neutral. I would think
if a man were in that situation, they would have a really difficult time trying to
access these orders.
7. I carried out a focus group with male victims of domestic violence; a main
concern for the men was the response they received from social workers. The
men felt they were not believed, that the social workers involved believed
whatever their partner/spouse was saying. One man’s words were, “Social
workers assisted my wife in kidnapping my children”. What is your view?
I believe that this could happen, a lot of social workers in Ireland are young and
inexperienced. I was trained in England there I would have been considered one of
the youngest in the team, where as in Ireland, I am one of the oldest on the team.
Social workers in Ireland are very young, what you learn in the College isn’t
enough; you need to learn from experience and dealing with your own personal
development, its just about doing the job. I just don’t think that the training sets
you up, particularly for domestic violence as a lot of them wouldn’t be trained in
risk assessment or safety, case loads are too high also, I have between fifty-five to
sixty cases, which is appalling. A lot of the social workers here I’ve found that they
come from a middle class background, and have led protected lives. Where as I
think you need to have some life experience, to deal with stuff and to be able to put
up a hand and ask for help. Also a lot of people’s perception would be that they
could not even accept that a man could be a victim of domestic violence.
64