'Like waking up in a Franz Kafka novel': Service users' experiences of the child protection system when domestic violence and acrimonious separations are involved

The challenges that arise in respect of child abuse reports made in the context of domestic violence and/or acrimonious separation have been the subject of recent academic discussion. This paper adds a service user perspective to the debate and reports on the findings from a study conducted in the Republic of Ireland. In addition to the previously established evidence about such cases, it demonstrates the level of powerlessness and frustration experienced by families who found it difficult to have their needs heard or met. It also illustrates the very detrimental emotional impact on children and parents who frequently encountered indifference as well as insensitive and gendered responses from child protection staff. The findings indicate that mainstream statutory child protection services do not have the capacity to deal with these complex cases, and advocates the adoption of alternative approaches. Importantly, the study demonstrates the necessity to pay attention to the views of service users in developing an appropriate response.

The European Court of Human Rights and Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is an issue that affects vast numbers of women throughout the world. It seems to constitute a clear violation of at least three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, however it has only been recognised as being a human rights issue relatively recently. Indeed, until 2007 domestic violence had not been directly addressed by the European Court of Human Rights. However, the Court has now addressed the issue in a series of recent cases. This paper discusses what positive obligations states parties to the Convention now have in relation to the issue of domestic violence. It proceeds to discuss the gaps in the Court’s jurisprudence in this area at present and how the case law of the Court may develop in the future.

A comparative study of domestic, European and international job-related relocation

This paper explores a number of relocation outcomes for geographically mobile employees in the following three regions: Germany as the home country and destination for domestic assignments (n = 115), Western Europe (n = 116) and other countries (n = 236). The satisfaction with various aspects of the post-relocation environment, the perception of change between the pre- and post-relocation environment and the attachment to the post-relocation environment at various levels were compared between the three groups. For the European and international sub-samples differences in the ideal country and future plans were also investigated. The group that stood out most clearly was the domestic sub-sample. It emerged as the group least satisfied with their job or task characteristics, perceived significantly fewer changes in the environment and was comparatively eager to leave the site they were currently working at and the job they were currently employed in. The sometimes proposed redefinition of intra-European assignments as ‘quasi-domestic’ relocation appears to be inappropriate.

The Victim Test under the Human Rights Act 1998 and its Implications for Domestic Violence Cases

The European Court of Human Rights has now clearly established that domestic violence constitutes a human rights issue. However, there are a number of difficulties involved in using the Human Rights Act 1998 in relation to violence against women in the home. One of these obstacles is the restrictive test of standing found in the Act, which is problematic as regards an ‘unseen crime’ such as domestic violence. This article examines this test of standing and the difficulties it poses in the context of violence against women in the home. It then considers alternative models for the standing requirement and assesses whether a change in the test of standing would produce beneficial results as regards the issue of domestic violence.