Mm Rogers

Exploring approaches to child welfare in contexts of domestic violence and abuse: Family group conferences

This article sets out to explore service provision for families affected by domestic violence and abuse (DVA). For most families where there are child protection concerns, there are possibilities for intervention from child welfare agencies and domestic abuse services but these have been criticised as having distinct and disconnected practice cultures and orientation. Recognising this divergence, in this paper we advocate for safeguarding children affected by DVA using the family group conference (FGC) model. This offers possibilities for a coherent response which integrates both child- and women-centred concerns in a holistic approach to family safety and wellbeing. Furthermore, it is well documented that safeguarding work involves professionally-led decision-making which is pre-occupied with the management of risk. Family group conferences, however, promote a partnership approach which engages families in a more democratic decision-making process. As such, FGCs offer families the opportunity to develop their own safety and support plans for the protection and care of children recognising the familys inherent strengths.

Transphobic ‘honour’-based abuse : a conceptual tool

This article proposes that an understanding of transphobic ‘honour’-based abuse can be employed as a conceptual tool to explore trans people’s experiences of familial abuse. This conception has evolved by connecting a sociology of shame, Goffman’s work on stigma and ‘honour’-based ideology. The discussion draws upon findings of a qualitative study which explored trans people’s experiences of domestic violence and abuse. Narrative interviews were undertaken with 15 trans people who had either experienced abuse or whose perceptions were informed experientially through their support of others. Transcripts were analysed using the Listening Guide. Findings indicate that trans people can experience abuse as a result of a family’s perceptions of shame and stigma. This article offers a novel way of conceptualising trans people’s experiences of family-based abuse, but it also holds potential for understanding other relational contexts, for example, those of intimate partnerships.

Polly’s story : using structural narrative analysis to understand a trans migration journey

There is scant theoretical and empirical research on experiences of trans1 and its significance for social work practice. In this paper, we premise that research on trans identity and practice needs to be located in particular temporal, cultural, spatial/geographical contexts and argue that a structural narrative analytical approach centring on plot, offers the opportunity to unravel the ‘how’ and ‘why’ stories are told. We posit that attending to narrative structure facilitates a deeper understanding of trans people’s situated, lived experiences than thematic narrative analysis alone, since people organise their narratives according to a culturally available repertoire including plots. The paper focuses on the life and narrative of Polly, a male-to-female trans woman, and her gender migration journey using the plot typology ‘the Quest’. We are cognisant of the limitations to structural narrative analysis and Western conventions of storytelling, and acknowledge that our approach is subjective; however, we argue that knowledge itself is contextual and perspective ridden, shaped by researchers and participants. Our position holds that narratives are not – and cannot – be separated from the context in which they are told, and importantly the resources used to tell them, and that analysing narrative structure can contextualise individual unique biographies and give voice to less heard communities.

Interrogating Trans and Sexual Identities Through the Conceptual Lens of Translocational Positionality

This article explores the confluence of trans identity and sexuality drawing on the concept of translocational positionality. In this discussion, a broad spectrum of gendered positionalities incorporates trans identity which, in turn, acknowledges normative male and female identities as well as non-binary ones. It is also recognised, however, that trans identity overlaps with other positionalities (pertaining to sexuality, for example) to shape social location. In seeking to understand subject positions, a translocational lens acknowledges the contextuality and temporality of social categories to offer an analysis which recognises the overlaps and differentials of co-existing positionalities. This approach enables an analysis which explores how macro, or structural, contexts shape agency (at the micro-level) and also how both are mediated by trans peoples multiple and shifting positionalities. In this framing, positionality represents a meso layer between structure and agency. Four case studies are presented using data from a qualitative study which explored trans peoples experiences of family, intimacy and domestic abuse. We offer an original contribution to the emerging knowledge-base on trans sexuality by presenting data from four case studies. We do so whilst innovatively applying the conceptual lens of translocational positionality to an analysis which considers macro, meso and micro levels of influence.

Challenging cisgenderism through trans people's narratives of domestic violence and abuse

By drawing on empirical research that explored trans people’s experiences of domestic violence and abuse (DVA), this article problematises the ‘gender asymmetry debate’ in DVA discourse. It does so by highlighting cisgenderism and a heteronormative bias, which have led to the invisibility of a trans perspective. Qualitative data was collected via narrative interviews and this was examined using a voice-centred relational technique. A total of 24 interviews were undertaken with trans people (n = 15) and domestic abuse practitioners (n = 9). In relation to the presentation and impact of DVA, and in the context of trans and cisgender people’s abuse experiences, the research findings report both similarities and differences. Four narratives are presented here to illuminate both. This article adds new insight and challenges normative and dominant discourses by promoting the need for further theorising about the gendered nature of domestic violence and abuse.