What we can learn to de-escalate high-conflict divorce after intimate partner violence.

How can post-divorce safety be enhanced by de-escalating high-conflict divorce after partner violence? This is an urgent question with international relevance that social professionals and police authorities’ alike struggle to answer as our awareness of intimate partner violence prior to and after the finalization of divorce increases. It is crucial that we share with each other’s insights, stories, and research from all over the world about post-divorce danger. Such research indicates that women in violent relationships are especially endangered in the period of post-divorce, when the frequency of severe violence escalates.

To reflect more profoundly on this issue and to prepare international action and follow up after the world conference, dr. Sietske Dijkstra (chair) initiated this session at November the fifth with an international panel of three professionals: Prof. Corine de Ruiter (forensic psychology, Maastricht University, the Netherlands), Prof. Marianne Hester (gender and violence, University of Bristol) and Dr. Sietske Dijkstra (Dijkstra Agency, violence and interagency cooperation, Utrecht). A fourth Canadian professional practitioner, will join the panel via teleconference (Skype) to comment on how to protect all parties in a high-conflict divorce.

See for the paper Achieving post divorce safety