2011 Descriptive Study of Domestic Violence Injunctions with Referrals to Supervised Visitation Programs
Five of Florida’s Supervised Visitation (SV) programs joined to participated in the Clearinghouse on Supervised Visitation’s 2011 outcome analysis project. The goal was to identify case variables that might lead to a quantitative indicator of program outcomes. SV directors decided to being with an exploratory study of cases that were referred to each program within Injunctions for Protection Against Domestic Violence. For the initial study, 26 variables were chosen for data collection involving a number of factors including basic demographics, injunction for protection petition and order information, and before, during, and after SV child protection involvement and arrests for violence.
Five directors studied a total of 146 randomly selected cases that had been closed for at least one year. The analyses were exploratory in nature, and are ongoing. Preliminary analyses reveal the following:
Findings
- 25.1% of injunctions also included orders for Batterer Intervention Programs
- 21.1% of injunctions included orders for child support
- 47.7% of cases were involved in family court prior to the injunction and supervised visitation
- 14 – the average number of services received in each case
Discussion
The data from the exploratory study indicate that the families who are sent to SV programs through Injunctions for Protection Against Domestic Violence are facing serious problems in addition to the violence. The children witness the violence in most cases, and most of these families have serious mental health and substance abuse problems.
Researchers noted the small percentage of cases that were sent to Batterer Intervention Programs. Although there was no control group, further analyses may support the early indication that supervised visitation may help decrease criminal court and dependency involvement. Finally, the data suggest that supervised visitation helps play a role in diverting families from the child protective system.