Gender-Based Violence and Child Protection: Italian Research into the Involvement of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators in Helping Interventions

This chapter presents the findings of research conducted in north- ern Italy into child protection services in the years 2021–2023. Through a qualitative analysis of 44 case files from 6 services, the research considers whether, during the social investigation ordered by the Juvenile Court, child protection social workers involved men who had committed acts of IPV, by analysing the helping process in terms of contacts with the perpe- trators and victims, assessment of parenting skills, and interventions on behalf of children, adolescents, mothers, and fathers. The analysis high- lights challenges of child protection interventions in cases of gender-based violence (GBV). The chapter also includes a discussion on how GBV is conceptualised and described by social workers engaged in a continuous search for balance between addressing the violence against women and protection of children and support of parents.