When everything is turned upside down at home: Children who lost a parent due to domestic homicide
Eva Alisic, University of Melbourne.
This session provides research insights regarding children who have been bereaved due to fatal domestic violence. It also offers a space for reflection for professionals working with trauma and grief among children more broadly. When a parent is killed due to domestic homicide, the children involved often experience multiple losses: one parent is deceased, the other is detained, on the run or has died by suicide, and in many cases the home has become a crime scene. In the aftermath, fundamental decisions about where to live, whether to have contact with the perpetrator, mental health care and other support options are made by family members and professionals. Eva will discuss what we currently know about children’s circumstances and needs, in particular from their own perspective. After this, Eva will introduce a freely available online resource for reflective practice. It centres around the lived experience of a young person who shares her story in brief audio and video fragments, inviting reflection on how we can be as child-centred as possible when everything is turned upside down at home.
Eva Alisic (she/her)
Associate Professor, Child Trauma and Recovery (Dame Kate Campbell Fellow and ARC Future Fellow)
Associate Director, Child & Community Wellbeing Unit
Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s First People and Traditional Custodians. I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging, and am committed to making a positive contribution to the wellbeing of their young people.
