Who's watching the kids? Making young people explicit in integrated systems approaches to family and domestic violence

Best practice in family violence is integrated system design. Yet few family violence systems include integration with youth services. To examine what might explain this lack of integration; three qualitative studies were conducted and a critical realist framework was developed to guide investigation. Each study supported exploration of policy, systems and practices, including the system practices professionals use in the family violence/youth system context. The findings show that professionals not only engage in system practices, but that these practices also support system integration and accountability. These findings have implications for family violence integrated systems and competency-frameworks inclusive of system practices.