Barriers to children's domestic violence counseling: A qualitative study

Children appear to underutilize domestic violence counseling services. The aim of this qualitative study was to learn about the factors that former ad ult clients of a domestic violence agency identify as barriers to their chi ld's participation in and completion of available services. Findings are ba sed on interviews with 105 parents of 205 children. Less than one-third of the parents enrolled their children in a specialized group-counseling progr am for children exposed to domestic violence. Parents identified six catego ries of barriers to their children enrolling in or completing the program: (1) technical difficulties: (2) violence-related stress: (3) parent percept ions of children's need for services: (4) parental opposition to child's pa rticipation: (5) agency's acceptance of men's parenting role: and (6) child opposition to participation. Study results are discussed within two genera l explanatory categories: family related factors and agency related factors .