annotated bibliography of new zealand research into family violence

that influenced child abuse investigators’ decision to interview children, and to makecomparisons between sexually and physically abused children. Three hundred substantiatedcases of child abuse (150 sexual abuse and 150 physical abuse investigations) investigated bythe Department of Child, Youth and Family Services of New Zealand, prior to July 2001,were analysed. Children were most often physically abused by their biological parents, andmothers were marginally more often the abusers than were fathers. Child abuse investigatorsoften tolerated physical assaults on children, particularly by mothers. Moreover, child abuseinvestigators did not routinely interview physically abused children or treat the abuse as acriminal matter, especially if there were complicating family dynamics. Sexually abusedchildren were usually victimised by unrelated, known males, less often by male relatives, andinfrequently by strangers, fathers, or step-fathers. Child abuse investigators usually did notrefer the young sexual offenders to the authorities for follow-up. Social workers often did notmeet with sexually abused children, but instead usually referred them for a forensic interview.In both physical and sexual abuse cases, social workers were more likely to take action ifchildren had made clear disclosures of abuse. The majority of factors that influenced childabuse investigators’ decisions to interview children were related to practice issues, in sexualabuse cases, or tolerance of parental violence towards children, in physical abuse cases.Source: Author’s abstractMcLeod, S. (2001). Exploring the ‘second closet’: A discursive exploration into the silencing andacknowledgement of family violence within the bounds of lesbian relationships. Unpublishedmaster’s thesis, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.See: www.nzfvc.org.nz/13179.pubTopic Areas: Intimate partner abuse, Same-sex partner abuse, Physical abuse,Psychological/emotional abuse, Families, Gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender people, Culturalfactors, Gender, Policy, Media violence, Social services, Prevention/intervention/treatmentAbstract: This thesis is an exploratory study into the ‘second closet’ from which lesbiansmust emerge in order to acknowledge the violence that they experience within the bounds of alesbian relationship. It examines the discursive strategies that Pakeha lesbians use toacknowledge and silence the existence of family violence in lesbian relationships. Thisresearch has been carried out under the broad theoretical umbrella of feminist research using adiscourse analytic method of analysis. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried outwith 10 self-identifying lesbians residing in Christchurch during 2000. All women in thestudy acknowledged the existence of family or domestic violence in lesbian relationships. Thedefinition of violence as gendered silenced the existence of violence within lesbianrelationships, as men perpetrate violence and women are victims of it. This gendereddefinition is described by all participants in this study and occurs on three levels: theindividual, the lesbian community and the generic community. The basis for future study,challenging social practices surrounding lesbian violence, informing training programmes toinclude lesbian violence and targeting lesbian domestic violence interventions to empower, isset, and recommendations for future study and changes in social practices are made.Source: Author’s abstractMcMaster, K. (1998). Identifying and assessing risk in men who have a history of violence towardstheir female partners. (Master’s thesis). Lyttelton, New Zealand: Ken McMaster &Associates.See: www.nzfvc.org.nz/12041.pubTopic Areas: Intimate partner abuse, Physical abuse, Perpetrators/offenders, Social services,118