Children and Law
The Voice of the Child in Domestic Violence Cases
9th December 2003
This conference in London was co-hosted by Children Law UK and Young Voice and chaired by District Judge Marilyn Mornington. As well as being chair of the Northern Circuit Domestic Violence Group, Judge Mornington also lectures and is an author on domestic violence and family law issues.
The first speaker, Professor Audrey Mullender has 25 years experience of social work, teaching and research and has written a number of influential books on domestic violence. She began by outlining that domestic violence crossed all strata of society and all cultures killing 2 women per week. It is the most repeated crime frequently intensifying throughout a victim’s pregnancy and during and after a couple’s separation. Whereas the physical abuse is most obvious the mental abuse can be just as damaging. The woman’s feeling of self worth is diminished as she is constantly told she is mad or stupid.
She is constantly demeaned in front of her children and the children are, in turn, encouraged to treat her in the same manner. The distorted view instilled in the affected children makes detection by social workers very difficult. She felt all social workers preparing court reports should be on the look out for it and learn to ask the right question especially with mental abuse, which is very difficult to detect.
Of all the children on the Child Protection Register at least 2/4 to ¾ have experienced some form of domestic violence. In compiling her statistics, Professor Mullender went into schools to increase awareness and question children on their knowledge of the subject of domestic violence. The most alarming statistic to emerge was that 1/3 of boys said women deserved to be hit and 1/5 of girls said the same. 80% of the children questioned said they would like the subject of domestic violence to be addressed in the National Curriculum so that it can be discussed openly in schools. Raising awareness on the issue of domestic violence has to start in primary schools, waiting until children are 13+ is too late to make a serious impact and change the mindset of our youth.
On the issue of contact within the setting of domestic violence, 80% of children questioned said they did not want to see the violent partner however Women’s Aid research has shown an increase in contact orders despite the increase in post separation violence
Is Protection and Justice working?? The government is planning a DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL called SAFETY AND JUSTICE.
Its 3 aims are: -
PREVENTION: working with victims and offenders to prevent it happening again.
PROTECTION AND JUSTICE: Increased legal protection for victims and their families
SUPPORT: To help victims rebuild their lives.