Therapeutic Engagement With Partner-Abusive Fathers

Excluding partner-abusive fathers from an intimate partner violence (IPV)-exposed child’s mental health treatment without exercising due diligence may be contraindicated. It is known that fathers with antisocial characteristics can be detrimental to a child’s development; however, research also shows that fathers are as important as mothers to the healthy development of children. Due to this dichotomy, working with IPV-exposed children and their families deserves an idiographic approach. By using a case vignette, steps are delineated and recommendations offered to develop a model for the safe engagement of partner-abusive fathers into an IPV-exposed child’s treatment.