Changing Social Worker Policies May Help Protect Women From 'Separation Violence'

(Framingham, MA, 3/27/02) Women say that some of their greatest anxieties occur when they or their friends are going through a separation or divorce, based on well-publicized statistics that a man is more likely to commit suicide or kill his wife or kids at that time than at any other time in his life.

These women fear for the their lives, and for the lives of their friends, their children, and the men as well.

It's possible that social workers can alleviate some of these concerns and anxieties by changing certain policies, according to "Fraternizing With The Enemy: A Book on Gender Issues For Men ... And for Women Who Care About Men," a new book analyzing gender issues in America.

"A number of women have told me that fear they violence by their husbands, or the husbands of their friends, when they're going through a separation," says author John J. Xenakis. "I also hear from grandmothers and second wives expressing the same sorts of concerns about their divorced sons and husbands."

Xenakis interviewed hundreds of men and women for his book, and found some issues that help explain the patterns that lead to these violence problems and how they can be prevented.

"Social workers overwhelmingly believe that the only way to protect women and children is to keep children away from their fathers as a matter of policy," says Xenakis. "In some cases that may help protect women, but in most cases it appears to enormously aggravate the situation."

Xenakis says that these social worker policies appear to be making women and children more vulnerable to violence.

"It's like poking a stick at an enraged grizzly bear," he says. "Social workers do some very counterproductive things as a matter of policy."

Social workers should change their policies not only to protect women and children, but also to protect themselves from legal action, based on emerging trends in the law, according to Xenakis.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article on violence in the workplace, "companies are increasingly being held to blame. September 11 may accelerate that trend."

"That article was on a different subject, but it's related in the sense that lawyers are suing more and more business people when any violence occurs in the workplace, if those business people were negligent in taking steps to provide adequate security," says Xenakis. "If those business lawsuits start being successful, then a social worker who is negligent or provocative might also become the target of lawsuits when violence occurs."

[The Wall Street Journal article referenced above is, "Whose Fault Is It? When there's violence in the workplace, companies are increasingly being held to blame. Sept. 11 may accelerate that trend," by Milo Geyelin, Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2002, p. R14]