Violence Against Women, 2024, First published online, 2 May 2024

Little is known about mothers’ and children's escape from violence and its aftermath when living in secure accommodation, especially with regard to children. The aim is to investigate mothers’ experiences of their escape, and their considerations regarding the well-being of their young children before or during their escape, based on 14 interviews. Using a narrative thematic analysis, the results show that the escape was often planned, but that the planning horizon varies. In many cases, the mothers’ social network served as a stepping-stone during the escape, before they continued by moving to a domestic violence shelter (DVS). Implications for policy and practice are offered. (Authors' abstract).

This is a paper from a Swedish project called Article 19: What sheltered housing means for abused children. The project consists of two substudies focusing on children's experiences of: (1) living at a DVS with their mother and, potentially, siblings and (2) being denied a place at a DVS for any reason. The data consists of interviews with children aged 7–17 years and mothers of children aged 0–6 years. For this article, data from both substudies has been used, and the focus is on the process of escaping from violence as described by the mothers of the youngest children. Follow the link for other papers related to this project. Record #8677