Children who witness abuse are at much increased odds to grow up to become abusers. How can this inter-generational cycle be broken? Is it ever too late to do this? Dr. Adams will draw from his many years of experience counseling abusive men, teaching parenting classes, and serving as an expert witness in domestic violence cases to talk about the importance of helping men with histories of domestic violence to set a better example for their children. David will describe several key strategies used in Intimate Partner Abuse Intervention Programs to promote empathy and respect for partners and children. Dr, Adams draw upon his many years of working with abusive men, teaching fatherhood education classes, and serving as an expert witness in court cases involving allegations of domestic violence.

​

In Part 2, Dr. Adams will provide a summary of the Responsible Fatherhood Program at Emerge, a fathering education model that is designed for men with histories of domestic violence. He will discuss the two board goals of this program, 1) to increase parenting awareness of children’s concerns and needs at different ages, including how they are impacted by exposure to domestic violence, and 2) to build parenting skills in terms of re-building trust with children, attending to their emotional needs, and setting a more positive example in terms of modeling empathy and respect toward the other parent, and learning to be a more co-operative, as opposed to oppositional, co-parent. This will be illuminated by description of five key intervention strategies. As an expert witness in domestic violence cases, Dr. Adams will describe how he evaluates an abuser’s readiness to parent.