24 Hour Domestic Violence Help-line

Children and young people are  aware of domestic violence in their homes as in 90% of domestic violence incidents, children are in the same or the next room when the violence takes place. (Hughes, 1992)

Children are individuals and will react differently to distressing experiences.  There is no one typical reaction from a child living with domestic violence, even those living together in the same family.  However, research highlights that children and young people may be affected in the following ways:

• Their emotional health and wellbeing is affected for example, low self-esteem and confidence, self harm, eating disorders, suicide, depression, panic attacks and anxiety
• There may be truancy or frequent absence from school to protect the victim, because they are too tired following an incident, they have difficulty accessing schools from temporary accommodation or they are kept off school so that the abuser cannot track the family down
• Children may over-achieve using school as an escape
• There may be risk taking behaviour such as early sexual experiences, crime and drug use
• Domestic violence is the largest cause of family homelessness

   

  This list is by no means exhaustive!

• The Adoption and Children Act 2002 amended the Children's Act 1989 to include any harm that a child may suffer from witnessing domestic violence.
• Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County Area Child Protection Committees already include domestic violence as, at the very least, emotional harm in their guidance. 
• Some children are also directly being abused.  A study of women who had experienced domestic violence showed that in 70% of the cases where the women had children, the child was also being physically abused by the same violent man.  (Bowker, 1988).
• In addition domestic violence can lead to the worst outcomes for children.  In Nottinghamshire in recent years, the reviews of the deaths of children through abuse, have highlighted that domestic violence has been present in each of these children’s lives.