Breaking down barriers : exploring the potential for social care practice with trans survivors of domestic abuse

There is increasing recognition that domestic abuse takes place outside of the heteronormative paradigm of social life. This paper presents a discussion of the findings of doctoral research which explores trans people’s experiences of domestic abuse, their social care needs and whether these are met by domestic abuse agencies. This paper foregrounds debate on the intersections of domestic abuse, trans communities and social care provision as this research, and previous studies, suggests that trans survivors do not seek out or benefit from social care intervention. Qualitative data, collected via narrative interviews, was collected during 2012 from participants mainly located in the UK (two participants were based in the US). A total of twenty four interviews were undertaken with trans people (n = 15) and social care practitioners (n = 9). Data was examined using a voice-centred relational technique. Findings reveal that barriers are multiple and complex but work could be undertaken to encourage help-seeking behaviours. Barriers include: expectations of a transphobic response and ‘Othering’ practices; lack of entitlement felt by trans people; lack of knowledge/misunderstandings about trans social care needs; heteronormative bias of existing services; and practitioner attitudes fixed to notions about gender as binary. The paper ends by proposing a framework for practice with trans survivors which incorporates a person-centred, narrative approach