Maria has been in a relationship with Louise for 18 months and has two children, 3 and 6 from a previous relationship. Dmitri, Maria’s ex-husband is currently trying to get equal time with the children through the court system via allegation towards Maria. Dimitri’s behaviour towards Maria and Louise, in the presence of the children, includes verbal abuse, threats and defamation. Maria is seeking help from her local family violence prevention service to ensure her and her families safety from Dmitri.
The Presenting Problem
Maria views her situation as needing better safety precautions for her, her children and Louise from Dmitri. Maria is unsure in including authorities such as the police and legal system with something …show more content…
Using a feminist and structural approaches, Maria has experienced discrimination based on her position as a mother caring for her children as she has less money to afford the court system which Dimitri is more able to afford. This due to being a man who are more likely to earn more than women in equal jobs, are more likely to be promoted then women and is not caring for his children as much finically as Maria, as he only has them every second weekend and overnight mid-week (Connolly & Harms, 2015 Healy, 2014; Trevithick, 2012; Allan, Briskman & Pease, 2009). Maria may also be experiencing victim blaming due to the heavy pressure placed on women to protect their children at all costs regardless of the circumstances. Which she is trying to do and cannot be overlooked, as she has come for social work assistance in how to safely proceed (Royal Commission into Family Violence, 2016; Laing & Humphreys, 2013). Other discrimination that Maria could have experienced that may affect the family violence intervention services and legal and policy systems, through their treatment of her are her current homosexual relationship and having previously been a single mother. As throughout history homosexual relationships and single …show more content…
Within Maria’s micro system the relationships of her children who are 3 and 6 years old and Louise are positive influences on her, while the relationship of Dmitri is a negative relationship on Maria due to his behaviours of family violence. Marias micro system relationship with her children may change in the future if the trauma they have sustained from being present to family violence is not adequately dealt with. Maria’s micro system is quite limited, which may be due to the effects of family violence or this being her first visit and her and her children safety taking priority over her available support networks (Connolly & Harms, 2015; Laing & Humphreys, 2013; Bronfenbrenner, 2009). Maria’s messo include the court systems which are related to Dmitri and her children’s education services as the 6-year-old should be in primary school and it is highly encouraged that the 3-year-old should be in early education. Other messo systems include this family violence prevention service she has sought assistance from the domestic violence help-line 1800 RESPECT, which she used to find this service, and Louise’s employment. Most of these messo relationships are positive and helping Maria dealing with her negative relationships in her micro and in her messo, where the court system has