A human-rights approach to adult family violence: a critical analysis of the Domestic Abuse Act (2021) and the need for systems change

Abstract

Defining domestic violence and abuse, and who constitutes victim-survivors has long been a contested issue. Despite the shift towards a gender-neutral ‘domestic abuse’, cemented by the Domestic Abuse Act (2021), there remains concerns whether this reflects abuse and the gendered dynamics at work. There is a notable absence of discussion on whether the Act reflects ‘adult family violence’, whereby the adult perpetrator is not an intimate partner to the adult victim-survivor. This article argues that this silence is resultant of a legacy of a ‘public story’ or conflation between domestic violence and the heterosexual, battered woman (Donovan & Barnes, 2020). This article argues that this impacts practice and asserts systemic change is needed.