Ideal Victims in Question: Child Welfare Workers’ Understandings of Suspected Violence in Family Law Disputes

The study analyzes how Child Welfare (CW) workers understand suspected violence in families with parents involved in a family law dispute. Typologies of intimate partner violence and constructions of ideal victims constitute the analytical framework. Interviews with 18 CW workers in five group interviews are analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Findings indicate that disputing parents are often not perceived as ideal victims but rather as perpetrators, leading CW workers to interpret violence as situational or as false allegations. This may further contribute to both parents being constructed as perpetrators and the child as a victim of conflict rather than violence.