Domestic Violence Is Child Abuse, Too : Law enforcement: Children, especially those who witness an assault, should be treated as victims.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Warren Moon was found not guilty last week of assaulting his wife, yet the verdict is unlikely to quell the passionate debate that the case aroused over whether a woman should be forced to testify against her husband in a domestic violence case. Lost and ignored in this controversy are the children who witness the domestic violence.

The Moons, in newspaper accounts, now characterize the incident as a “private, marital event in which neither spouse feels aggrieved by the other.” Should it be assumed that their 7-year-old son, Jeffrey, who witnessed this “private marital event” has not been “aggrieved”? Moon’s attorney has criticized the prosecutor for turning “a private matter into a nightmare for the Moon family,” including the couple’s four children. Unfortunately for Jeffrey, the real and everlasting nightmare occurred when circumstances forced him to tell a 911 operator, “Daddy’s going to hit my mommy. Please hurry.”

Witnessing domestic violence is one of the most insidious forms of child abuse because frequently there are no outward signs of injury--no bruises, cuts or broken bones. But the injury is there and it is serious.

The harm to children takes various forms. The most direct is of a psychological nature. Witnessing violence often induces in children, regardless of age, a chronic post-traumatic disorder. Interviews with children who have witnessed their father physically and psychologically batter their mother also reveal a variety of reactions, including extreme fear, disassociation and numbing. Male children, particularly older ones, also experience intense anger at their father during and after domestic assaults and typically harbor revenge fantasies for years. In fact, a 1991 Texas (the state where Moon was prosecuted) legislative study found that among males 11 to 20 who committed homicide, 63% killed a man who was abusing their mother.

Children often are physically harmed during incidents of domestic violence. This includes being accidentally hurt or being intentionally struck while attempting to protect their mother.

Researchers now know that violence directed against a child’s mother is a primary risk factor in determining whether that child will be directly abused by the mother or father. And children who have witnessed their mother’s brutalization typically model their reaction to mistreatment on their mother’s reaction: They do not seek assistance; they blame themselves for the abuse and experience feelings of shame and low self-esteem.

Given these disastrous effects of witnessing domestic violence, there are some important preventive intervention steps that the criminal justice system can undertake. Every time a domestic violence arrest is made, the investigating agency must ensure that the children are independently interviewed to determine whether they have suffered any mental and physical injuries. Prosecutors and child welfare officials should use this information to determine what steps are needed to protect the child.

If for no other reason than to protect the safety and welfare of children, domestic violence should never be considered a private matter.