Resources or Not

I recently skimmed through 2 books to gather information for a workshop. One book was about children and domestic violence. I was specifically looking for information about people who abuse their adult partners and their parenting. One chapter was about mothers and one chapter was about fathers. In the chapter about fathers, over half of it was devoted to describing father's rights groups. That seemed like a strange use of space for a chapter titled "Fatherhood and Domestic Violence: Exploring the Role of Men Who Batter in the Lives of Their Children."

The second book that I skimmed over was supposed to be about Subtance Abuse, Family Violence, and Child Maltreatment - according to the title at least. I could not find these words in the index: domestic violence, batterer, abuser, protective parent, non-offending parent, or victim. The words "family violence" were on one page.

Needless to say, I didn't use any materials from these 2 books for my presentations. I did use information from two excellent books that detail the impact of battering on children and those are Why Does He Do It? and The Battering as Parent, both by Lundy Bancroft. These two books include extensive information about abusers and their impact on their children - during and after the intimate relationship with an adult partner. I highly recommend both books if you are looking for accurate information about the impact witnessing battering has on a child.