Drawing the Line: How African, Caribbean and White British Women Live Out Psychologically Abusive Experiences

The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Violence Against Women, 19 (9):1104-32, Sept 2013 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2013. The online version of this article can be found at: http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/19/9/110

Presuming the Status Quo? The Impact of the Statutory Presumption of Parental Involvement

The courts’ treatment of domestic abuse within private law child arrangements disputes has attracted significant concern for many years, most recently culminating in the call for major reform by the Ministry of Justice’s expert review into the courts’ practice. The Ministry of Justice has since committed to a follow-up review into the operation of the statutory presumption of parental involvement (Children Act 1989, section 1(2A)). This paper provides timely insight into the impact of this presumption in cases involving domestic abuse, presenting the findings from the first empirical study to explore its impact on the lower courts. Forty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with judges, barristers, solicitors, Cafcass practitioners and representatives from domestic abuse organisations. It also explores perceptions of whether the statutory presumption ought to be reversed to introduce a presumption against contact in domestic abuse cases. It is argued that whilst the statutory presumption does not appear to be changing the courts’ practice, its harm lies in the reinforcement of a dominant narrative that children ‘need’ contact. Whilst a presumption against contact might not hold the answer to changing this narrative, there remains an urgent need to reappraise the approach taken to the resolution of cases involving domestic abuse

Asset or Liability: Transnational Links and Political Participation of Foreign-Born Citizens in Taiwan

Viewed as outsiders clinging onto links with their country of origin, immigrants do not often feature positively in electoral politics in their host society. Challenging this conventional view, this paper examines how immigrants make use of their transnational ties to foster their political participation in the host state. This exploration is conducted through our study of the political participation of Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants in Taiwan. Our research finds that transnational ties are politicised by the mainstream political parties. However, such politicisation does not necessarily restrict immigrants’ agency and their socio-political space for political participation. Their transnational ties constitute a dynamic socio-political field in which these maintained connections are acted upon and give rise to a variety of strategies for responding to issues affecting their interests

Strengthening diversity Good practice in delivering domestic violence services to Black women and children

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m01/15462 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Strengthening diversity Good practice in delivering domestic violence services to Black women and children

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m01/15462 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo