Research

Katreena Scott on issues affecting families faced with violence

Katreena Scott was a kid herself when her interest in child welfare began. Watching her mother, a social worker with Children’s Aid, deal with the heartbreak of child abuse on a daily basis, Scott learned early on that not all kids have the same opportunities and experiences — and decided to devote herself to the issues affecting children and families faced with violence.

Instead of taking on a practitioner role like her mother, Scott’s aim was to look at the system itself and use both an academic and applied approach to issues of family violence. “I wanted to explore how we can get information out to those who have responsibility for children’s experiences, as well as help develop programs that treat the whole family,in addition to the victims of family violence,” says Scott, associate professor in the School and Clinical Child Psychology program at U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE/UT).The program is the only one in Canada that offers combined training in the practice of school and clinical child psychology. Graduates go on to take up leadership positions in schools and in child and family mental health services.

Part of Scott’s research focuses on children who have experienced abuse and neglect, exposure to violence or other types of trauma. Her work also takes her into the realm of domestic violence— when there’s been abuse of one parent by another. A unique focus to her work is treating men — often the perpetrators of violence — and studying patterns of abuse in their own histories.

In her work with children, Scott explains that while physical violence may be most easy to recognize and gets the most play in the media, emotional abuse and childhood neglect are at least as harmful. “Children who don’t get the kind of attention or resources that they need from their parents do not do well — in school and in life,” she says. “There’s been considerable research done on the effects of neglect on kids as well as the incidence or prevalence of domestic violence.” But, Scott emphasizes, it’s the research on what to do about it that sometimes lags behind.

OISE is the only school in Canada that offers a course to student teachers to train them to recognize signs of abuse and neglect in children and to identify potential problems. For Scott, who designed the course,equipping teachers to report on the safety of our children is paramount. “They need to have this trained lens — reporting laws are not enough.”

Much of Scott’s research is done in collaboration with community agencies. For example, she is involved with the London, Ont. -based agency, Changing Ways, which works with men who are abusive towards their spouses, the Children’s Aid Society and the Hospital for Sick Children. “Most of the current work surrounding family violence is done through the moms, not with the dads. When you’re ignoring the dad — who is, in most cases, the perpetrator of violence, you are limited in what you can do. Dads need a unique approach. ”Scott feels strongly that it’s important not to stop at the victims. “We need to do abetter job of providing the help to both parents. Most of them want to become better mothers and fathers.”

Tags: Feature Stories, Katreena Scott, Society