Department of Children And Family Services (DCF) Bureaucracies: Re-Victimization of Mothers who are Survivors of Domestic Abuse

Abstract

This paper investigated how government bureaucracies re-victimize mothers who are survivors of domestic violence. The paper found that mothers who are victims of domestic violence encounter another kind of victimisation as they seek justice from the legal and judicial processes. This re-victimization occurs when the victim of a crime, in this case, domestic violence survivor mothers are held responsible for the violence committed against them by their intimate partners. These victims are often held responsible for not abandoning the abusive partner, not protecting their children and/or not doing enough to avoid the abuse. Findings from studies show that victims of domestic violence have always felt re-victimized by the legal-judicial system’s response to their cry for help over their pain of abuse by their partners. As remedy, domestic violence survivor mothers would want the legal system to understand their experiences of being domestic violence survivors and being re-victimized by the legal-judicial system.