Digital technologies have transformed and diversified acts of domestic violence, enabling abusers to harass, monitor, isolate, and control their partners across time and space. Children, though not their primary targets, are also deeply affected and often exploited in technology-facilitated violence (TFV).

This study examines children's involvement in TFV through data from two research projects.

The first dataset consisted of a survey exploring shelter employees' perceptions of the digital violence experienced by their clients. A total of 53 respondents described themes relevant to this study. The second dataset comprised four focus group interviews with 15 support service professionals from eight organizations with specialized expertise in TFV.

The data from the study were analyzed using a data-driven thematic analysis.

The results indicate that abusers use various tactics to exploit children, their devices, or information related to them in a technological manner to harm the child's parent. The forms of abuse observed in this study included 1) pressuring the child to become an active agent, 2) stalking by children's devices, 3) threatening, accusing, and scaring with child-related matters, and 4) undermining the child–parent relationship.

Professionals working with families must be trained to identify and respond to TFV, ensuring the safety of both parents and children. Structured screening tools that include TFV-related items can support the identification of children's experiences and inform practices across legal, health, and child protection settings. Importantly, assessments of adult victims or abusers should also include questions about children's involvement.