Toolkit - The Child's Voice and Domestic Abuse

“How can we hear the voices of children and young people and what is important to them?”

We asked ourselves this question in 2023 in our Quality Assurance and Scrutiny panel, especially since babies, children and young people are now recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right and should therefore have access to services and support.

In response, we have developed this toolkit, designed to equip practitioners with the skills, knowledge and confidence to hear and respond to the voice of the child.  Ultimately providing greater support pre and post birth, for babies, children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse and are accessing, trying to access or unable to access specialist support.

The toolkit was collated by a task & finish group made up of multi-agency practitioners with specialist expertise and experience of working with domestic abuse, and has been overseen by a wider forum of specialist agencies and services and in consultation with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner.

• It provides local organisations and agencies with effective ways of identifying the needs of children experiencing domestic abuse.
• It supports professionals to feel comfortable and confident routinely asking about domestic abuse
• It provides all professionals across the partnership with knowledge of pathways, processes and sources of support
• It promotes a culture where every child is asked and given the opportunity to communicate their needs and worries about domestic abuse they may be experiencing
• It raises awareness and provides help & support with reporting

You can read a one page summary of the toolkit in our 7 minute briefing here.

We will be evaluating the impact and the difference this toolkit has made to practice and would welcome your feedback.  Let us know - how has it helped you hear and respond to children affected by domestic abuse?  What difference has it made for children?  Anything that could be improved or updated?  Contact us with your thoughts.

Note

The statutory definition of domestic abuse is: Any incident or pattern of incidents of physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse, psychological, emotional or other abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been personally connected to each other (The Domestic Abuse Act 2021).

The definition also recognises that domestic abuse can impact on a child who sees, hears and/or experiences the effects of the abuse and treats such children as victims in their own right where they are related to either the abuser or the abused. This means that children who are witnessing, hearing about, or experiencing the repercussions of domestic abuse between adults are also considered victims, even if they are not directly the target of the abuse. 

Other resources available

• Domestic Abuse - information for professionals available here
• Information for parents and carers available here
• OSCP Multi-Agency Case Audit - the impact of domestic abuse on children aged 7 and under available here