Product Details
When Life and Death Collide: Mothers Who Kill Their Children (Filicide)
- Credit(s): 1.5 Social Work
- Course Number: SPS20251118
- Duration: 1 hour 28 minutes
- Access: Available for 5 months after Registration
Self Study
- Non-Member Price
- $40.00
- Member Price
- $20.00

Description

This presentation provides a comprehensive exploration of filicide—cases in which mothers kill their children—through real-world examples, statistical data, and psychological, social, and cultural perspectives. It examines the multiple categories of filicide, including altruistic motives, psychosis-driven acts, unwanted children, accidental fatalities, and spouse-revenge cases, offering insight into the diversity of underlying causes. For social workers, the presentation underscores the importance of recognizing early warning signs such as maternal isolation, postpartum depression or psychosis, and family or community stressors. It also explores assessment challenges, including “splitting” behaviors and stigma surrounding mental illness, that can hinder effective intervention. The material emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration—linking social workers, healthcare providers, and mental health professionals—to develop coordinated prevention and intervention strategies. Ultimately, it equips social workers with a deeper understanding of risk assessment, family dynamics, and safety planning to better protect vulnerable children and support at-risk families.

Learning Objectives:

Risk Identification and Assessment – Social workers will be able to recognize key psychological, social, and behavioral warning signs associated with filicide risk, including postpartum mental health crises, family stressors, and patterns of isolation, to inform early intervention strategies.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration – Social workers will be able to apply best practices for collaborating with healthcare providers, mental health professionals, and child protection agencies to develop coordinated safety and prevention plans for at-risk families.
Trauma-Informed Support and Advocacy – Social workers will be able to integrate trauma-informed principles when working with mothers, families, and children affected by filicide risk, ensuring both prevention efforts and post-crisis interventions address psychological, social, and systemic needs.

Credits

1.5 Social Work

Faculty

Paul Thomas Clements, PhD, RN, AFN-C, ANEF, DF-IAFN, DF-AFNBio

Paul Thomas Clements, PhD, RN, AFN-C, ANEF, DF-IAFN, DF-AFN Bio

Paul Thomas Clements is a board-certified Advanced Practice Forensic Nurse (FNCB/AFN-C), a Certified Gang Specialist, and Certified in Danger Assessment. He is currently the President of the Academy of Forensic Nursing. Practicing in the forensic psychiatric nursing arena for over 30 years, Clements has provided consultation for hospital systems, EMTs, Child Protective Agency personnel, trauma/emergency nurses, psychiatric providers, academic, and corporate settings – each regarding vulnerability risk assessment, target-hardening, and decreasing the number of violent incidents in the workplace, as well as bullying and the subsequent sequelae.

Clements has numerous peer reviewed textbooks including two recent publications: Mental Health Issues of Child Maltreatment: Contemporary Strategies 2-volume set (2024), and most recently, The Expanding Continuum of Gender-Based Violence: Trauma-Informed Care2-Volume set (2025). His next publication, Violence Against Women: Intersectional Case Studies, is scheduled for publication in the latter half of 2025. Additionally, he has numerous peer-review publications, and a significant number of conference presentations – nationally and internationally – that address assessment and intervention related to the neurobiology of trauma, interpersonal violence, aggression, and offender behavior, coping after a violent death, safety assessment, and exposure to interpersonal violence and crime.

Clements holds a Master’s degree in Child and Family Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing and a Doctor of Philosophy in Forensic Psychiatric Nursing, both from the University of Pennsylvania, with research and practice that have surrounded the traumatic presentations and behaviors of children exposed to the homicide or other violent death of a family member. Clements was inducted as a Distinguished Fellow in the International Association of Forensic Nurses in 2002, and was an inaugural Associate Editor of the Journal of Forensic Nursing from 2005-2012. Clements works as a Clinical Professor at the Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing at Texas A & M University.

Materials

Slide Presentation.pdf (0) (1 MB)

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