The Experience of the Infant Entering Refuge (Shelter) Setting with Their Mothers After Fleeing Family Violence
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REVIEW ARTICLE
The Experience of the Infant Entering Refuge (Shelter) Setting with Their Mothers After Fleeing Family Violence Wendy Bunston 1,2 & Margarita Frederico 2 & Mary Whiteside 2 Accepted: 8 November 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Almost nothing is known about how the infant may experience being in a women’s Refuge (Shelter) setting with their mother after fleeing family violence, despite the high numbers of infants and young children in Refuges or Shelters. This research was concerned with exploring how the infant experienced refuge within a Refuge setting post family violence. Using a non-intrusive, ethically informed, ‘infant led’ approach, this research involved ten infants (aged 3 weeks to 16 months), ten mothers, and 13 staff in eight Refuges from three countries: Australia, Scotland and England. Data was collected through infant observation, interviews with mothers and then staff. Presented is a synthesis of a research methodology which was led by the infant, drew on concepts of ‘inter-subjectivity’ and used a constructivist grounded theory method. Infants were often lost from view within the Refuge setting. The mother, herself traumatised, was expected to be the refuge for her infant. Only the obviously distressed infant was assisted, and where available, from outside specialist workers. It was often too painful for the adults, both mothers and staff, to see or reflect on the infant’s possible trauma. Significantly, in all cases the motivation for each mother to enter Refuge was ensuring their infant’s safety. Concern for their infant or young child can be a powerful catalyst for women leaving a violent relationship. Refuges (Shelters) are in a unique position to respond to the infant in their own right whilst helping to heal and grow the infant/ mother relationship. Keywords Infant led qualitative research . Refuges/shelters . Family violence . Intersubjective constructivist grounded theory . Infant observation . Infant mother relationship
Introduction Infants and children residing in Refuges (or Shelters) often exceed the number of women. Infants under four make up the highest cohort of children entering crisis accommodation (AIHW 2012; Shinn 2010), however, have received little to no attention in the literature (Bunston 2016; Campo et al. 2014).
* Wendy Bunston [email protected] Margarita Frederico [email protected]
What occurs within Refuge (or Shelters) for the infant, particularly those aged 12 months and under, can only be inferred by exploring what ‘related’ research and literature has to offer. This pertains to specific therapeutic programs with individuals or groups of women and infants who reside in Refuge but attend outside services (Groves 2002; Lieberman and Van Horn 2004 2008) or interventions delivered in-house to enhance the relationship between the infant and mother (Bain 2014; Bunston and Glennen 2008; James and Newbury 2010; Keeshin et al. 2015). Absent from research is what may be the infant’s experiences
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