Children in an Abusive Relationship

How we can help you.

Children are affected by living in the same house as domestic violence whether they witness it or not and severe long term damage can result. This is often minimised or denied by the person being abused and the person who is abusive.

Imagine how frightening it is for a child of any age to see or hear shouting and banging, things being broken and wondering what is going on, is someone hurt, are they safe.

Whether you are the victim or the abusive party you need to consider the effects on your children or step children. Often children do witness incidents and sometimes they are physically hurt too.

Domestic abuse can become a child protection issue:

• If the child is present at the time of the attack
• If the child is deliberately hurt in the attack
• If the child is accidentally hurt, for example, if they being held at the time of the attack or they try to protect the parent being abused or attacked
• If they are neglected
• If they are sexually abused or have witnessed sexual abuse on their mother