The case of the missing perpetrator

This book analyses the introduction development andreification of the concepts of 'children witnessing'and mothers 'failing to protect' as powerful andcurrently dominant child welfare ideas in the UnitedKingdom and Canada. Discourse analysis methods froma number of sources were drawn on to reveal andinterpret how and why the discourse of 'failure toprotect' has emerged how it shapes and informs childprotection practice and policy and the effects onboth mothers and social workers. Strega demonstrates that the concepts of 'childrenwitnessing' and mothers 'failing to protect' areconstructed enacted and deployed in ways thatmaintain and perhaps even increase the nature andextent of violence against women and children. Shecontends that the rhetoric and actions engendered bythese discourses are in themselves injurious towomen both individually in cases where mothers loseor are threatened with the loss of their childrenand collectively in contributing to a continuingfailure to hold responsible or even notice men whoperpetrate violence against mothers.