Social work urged to smarten up to technology facilitated domestic abuse
![Smart home app photo](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_s/public/2023-10/Smart%20Homes.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=LMeeQhAs)
Social workers need greater awareness of how smart home technology is being used by domestic abusers to intimidate and control their victims, new research warns.
And the widespread use of ring doorbells, which contain video devices, poses a risk to social workers themselves, because abusers can see when they are visiting an address.
The concerns are outlined in the British Journal of Social Work paper Technology Facilitated Domestic Abuse: An Under-recognised Safeguarding Issue?
Researchers from Nottingham University outline the four main ways technology is used by abusers: surveillance and monitoring through phones and social media, location tracking via stalkerware, manipulating relationships via messaging, and weaponising the smart home.
Smart home abuse is an “emerging, lesser-known form of technology facilitated domestic abuse (TFDA)” says the paper and can involve use of smart speakers and ring door-bells, and other connected devices controlled remotely.
Even televisions and lightbulbs, white goods, smart watches and heating controls have been used to intimidate, confuse and disorientate.
Because ring doorbells send live notifications to the owner's mobile phone, abusers can see social work visits taking place and return to an address while a social worker is present to intimidate them.
"The smart home erodes victims' privacy and enables perpetrators' use of surveillance and control tactics," the researchers note.
Abusers are able to “listen into and record” conversations, access live video streams, adjust heating and lighting to leave family members hot, cold or in the dark.
"Those being victimised may not be aware of the exact nature or full scale of the abuse, and perpetrators may be able to gaslight their partner into believing they are experiencing mental health concerns such as paranoia."
Where couples have split up, there are now issues with 'digital decoupling' - former partners are still able to access home devices and control them remotely, exacerbating post-separation abuse.
Excluding an abusive partner from the home and moving family to secret locations may no longer be effective as a safeguarding measure “without additional skilled technological support” the authors note.
Online stats
Technological uptake across society is on the rise:
- In 2021 it was reported that 94 per cent of homes in the UK now have access to the internet, 99 per cent for younger 16-44 year-old homes
- 82 per cent of over-16s use a smart phone
- 51 per cent of homes operate a smart TV, and 22 per cent a smart speaker
Researchers warn: "All social workers need to know the signs of domestic abuse, including coercive control. However, the guidance... reflect(s) an increasingly outdated approach, remaining stuck in an analogue era, when abuse is increasingly digital.
"Technology-facilitated domestic abuse (TFDA) is rapidly becoming the norm rather than the exception. At present, guidance for social work education does not include awareness of the risks posed to service users by technology. Yet knowledge of the dangers and possibilities afforded by technology is increasingly needed in all areas of social work.”
The commonly used Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment and Honour-Based Violence risk assessment tool (DASH) only includes a single technology-specific question and supplementary questions make “no explicit reference to digital technologies”, researchers noted.
This means "those experiencing domestic abuse are reliant on social workers having sufficient independent knowledge of TFDA”.
It is important, report authors stress, for social workers to ask the right questions to establish what technology is in a home, and what technology service users and their children use.
Access to devices by former partners should be investigated and social workers should discuss ways in which devices may have been compromised.
The report authors conclude: “Social workers require up-to-date training and support to effectively and safely work with those impacted by TFDA, to recognise and assess the presence of TFDA and signpost service users to resources on how to digitally disentangle from an abuser. This must be done carefully and with appropriate support and safeguards in place."
It is also recommended that local authorities develop teams skilled in technology who can advise in cases of TFDA.