APPENDIX 27
Memorandum submitted by NSPCC
1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.1 We recommend a review
of the impact of Section 120 of the Adoption and Children Act
2002 and its extension of the definition of "significant
harm" to include "impairment suffered by seeing or hearing
the ill-treatment of another", to ascertain if it has been
properly implemented and whether it has resulted in greater protection
for children affected in this way.
1.2 Sections in the Domestic
Violence, Crime and Victims Act relating to domestic homicide
reviews and restraining orders should be implemented without delay
and new measures are introduced to exclude perpetrators of domestic
violence from the home for periods of time following an incident.
1.3 The Government must develop
a more holistic approach to responding to families where violence
between parents and carers is present.
1.4 Professionals should receive
thorough training about what to do if they come into contact with
a young person at risk of or who has been forced into marriage.
1.5 Particular effort is required
to develop integrated approaches to bring together services that
respond to domestic violence (which usually focus on the needs
of mothers) with those ensuring the protection of children.
1.6 MARACs should hold separate
meetings for cases where children witness and experience domestic
violence and cases where children are not involved.
1.7 Additional resources and
funding are needed so that victims can be and effectively responded
to, and work needs to be undertaken on how and where MARACs and
Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPAs) should work
together.
1.8 The Government's definition
of domestic violence should be extended to include children.
1.9 The domestic violence
manual for people working with children should be widely promoted
and disseminated to all professionals working with children.
1.10 PSHEE should be a statutory
subject for all children to offer practical tips and advice for
children who may be experiencing domestic violence.
1.11 Schools should offer
counselling for children who are experiencing or have experienced
domestic violence.
1.12 Children who have witnessed
domestic violence should have access to therapeutic support services.
1.13 Specialist Domestic Violence
Courts and Independent Domestic Violence Advocates should be sufficiently
and sustainably funded to ensure they are able successfully to
prosecute cases which come before them.
1.14 Additional resources
must be made available for appropriate prevention and intervention
strategies that directly target domestic violence perpetrators
and enable them to stop offending.
1.15 A criminal offence for
forcing someone into marriage should be created to send a clear
message to communities where this takes place, that the practice
is wrong and will be dealt with criminal sanctions. Any new offence,
as well as existing legislation could be used to prosecute the
practice or threat of forced marriage, should be extended through
legislation to bear extra-territorial applicability.
1.16 We recommend that the
government set a clear standard for non-violence in society and
remove the existing defence of "reasonable punishment",
available to parents and others under Section 58 of the Children
Act 2004 to defend minor forms of physical punishment.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 The National Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is the UK's leading
charity specialising in child protection and the prevention of
cruelty to children. We provide 21 services for children and families
affected by domestic violence and work with perpetrators. In addition,
we run the NSPCC Child Protection Helpline, the Asian Language
Helpline, ChildLine and "there4 me.com", an interactive
website for young people, which includes information, advice and
counselling about domestic violence.
2.2 It is important that efforts
to tackle domestic violence should include recognising and responding
to the needs of the children who witness it, yet they are often
the "hidden victims" of such violence. Our evidence
is focused on their experience of domestic violence/abuse, and
our own experience of working with them and with their families.
2.3 Domestic violence contravenes
a child's rights under Article 19 of the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child, which states that a child should be
protected from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury
or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation,
including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s) or legal
guardian(s).
2.4 In 2000, the NSPCC conducted the first
UK prevalence study[79]
of child abuse and neglect. A nationally representative sample
of 2,869 young adults aged 18-24 was interviewed for this work;
more than 26% of the young people had witnessed violence between
parents at least once and for 5% the violence was a constant or
frequent occurrence. The study also revealed that:
— Eight out of 10 young people
who had suffered serious physical abuse had also experienced domestic
violence. For nearly half (43%) of these, the domestic violence
was constant or frequent.
— Nine out of 10 young people
who said they had been neglected also reported some domestic violence.
— In all, 21 of the 27 people
(78%) who reported sexual abuse by their parents also reported
domestic violence—in nearly all cases it was a constant
or frequent occurrence.
2.5 The NSPCC welcomes recent
policy developments, such as the National Domestic Violence Action
Plan (2005) and the subsequent National Domestic Violence Delivery
Plan: Progress Report (2006). We commend Section 120 of the Adoption
and Children Act 2002 and its extension of the definition of "significant
harm" to include "impairment suffered by seeing or hearing
the ill-treatment of another". This came into effect in January
2005.
We recommend a review of its impact,
to ascertain if it has been properly implemented and whether it
has resulted in greater protection for children affected in this
way.
2.6 Significant developments
have also been made in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims
Act 2004, particularly the introduction of new powers for the
police and courts to deal with offenders, support for victims
and creating a new offence of causing or allowing the death of
a vulnerable child or adult.
We recommend that the sections in the
Act relating to domestic homicide reviews and restraining orders
should be implemented without delay and new measures are introduced
to exclude perpetrators of domestic violence from the home for
periods of time following an incident.
2.7 We commend the attention
the government has given to domestic violence, but consider it
should be strengthened further by addressing the wider impact
it has on children living in violent households. While the Progress
Report does contain specific targets relating to children who
witness and experience domestic violence, the Government must
develop a more holistic approach to responding to families where
violence between parents and carers is present.
2.8 Professionals should receive
thorough training about what to do if they come into contact with
a young person at risk of or who has been forced into marriage.
2.9 Women from BME communities
are less likely to access statutory services for a host of reasons
including barriers at both the institutional and local level.
The NSPCC is currently undertaking policy
research[80]
to contribute to a better understanding of the issues faced by
South Asian women and children affected by domestic violence.
We are keen to share this information with the Committee to raise
awareness of and make policy recommendations on the specific needs
and experiences of this group of children.
2.10 The NSPCC considers that
the underlying causes of adult violence perpetrated towards partners
is also of relevance to this inquiry. Research has shown that
experience of both average and severe forms of corporal punishment
by parents is associated with an individual's increased likelihood
of acting violently with an adult romantic partner[81].
For this and other reasons the NPSCC recommends that the government
set a clear standard for non-violence in society and remove the
existing defence of "reasonable punishment", available
to parents and others under Section 58 of the Children Act 2004
to defend minor forms of physical punishment. This undermines
efforts to persuade parents to find alternative, less harmful
and more respectful, forms of discipline and has served to reinforce
parents' right to hit their children. Removing the defence would
give children equal protection under the law on assault and send
a clear message that no physical violence is ever acceptable.
The government should use the opportunity presented by its recent
review of the effects of Section 58 to remove this defence, and
should accompany the change with public education about positive
parenting techniques and the widespread provision of parenting
programmes. These actions would represent an important contribution
to ending intergenerational transmission of physical violence.
3. THE
IMPACT OF
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
ON CHILDREN
3.1 Professional concern about
domestic violence has tended to focus on violence between adults,
primarily perpetrated by men against women. The risks to the well-being
of children living with domestic violence began being documented
in the 1990s, but less attention has been paid to the serious
impact and implications of domestic violence for children, both
in policy formulation and in the collation of national statistics
on domestic violence.
3.2 Children have often been
wrongly regarded as largely unaffected by the violence occurring
between adults in the home, and their own experience of direct
harm has frequently been underestimated.
3.3 Its effects, have however,
been firmly recognised in Working Together to Safeguard Children[82].
Section 120 of the Adoption and Children Act also extended the
definition of harm as set out in the Children Act 1989 to include
"impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment
of another".
Prolonged and regular exposure to domestic
violence can have a serious impact on a child's development and
emotional well-being. Children may be greatly distressed by witnessing
the physical and emotional suffering of a parent. Gaps in evidence
remain, but research consistently shows that children living with
domestic violence have higher rates of depression, trauma symptoms,
and behavioural/cognitive problems than other children[83].
3.4 Children from black and
minority ethnic communities may be more prone to international
child abduction and/or forced marriage. They may feel duty-bound
to respect a father as an elder, even though he is violent. There
can be additional barriers such as cultural concepts of shame
and honour which can be used to control women and prevent them
from seeking help.
3.5 Domestic violence has
an impact at different stages in a child's life. Assaults on pregnant
women frequently involve punches or kicks directed at the abdomen,
injuring both mother and foetus. Babies living with domestic violence
are subject to high levels of ill health and poor sleep[84];
pre-school children show the highest levels of behavioural disturbance,
and are particularly prone to blaming themselves for adult anger[85].
Older children may become direct targets and suffer blows during
episodes of adult violence[86].
3.6 Both the physical assaults
and the psychological abuse suffered by mothers who experience
domestic violence can have a negative impact on their ability
to look after their children. This can lead them to developing
mental health problems, such as depression, self-harm and suicide
attempts.[87]
4. LINKS
BETWEEN DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE AND
OTHER FORMS
OF CHILD
ABUSE
4.1 In a joint University
of Bristol/NSPCC study, fathers or father figures were more likely
than other men to sexually abuse their children if they were also
violent and abusive to the mothers.[88]
4.2 In the NSPCC's study[89]
a strong overlap was found between domestic violence and physical,
sexual and emotional abuse of children. High proportions of those
experiencing abuse from parents also experienced frequent violence
between carers.
5. MULTI-AGENCY
APPROACHES AND
WHAT BARRIERS
EXIST TO
THEIR EFFECTIVE
OPERATION
5.1 Responses to domestic
violence should address the situation of all members of the family,
provide support and protection for child and/or adult survivors,
and challenge perpetrators. This requires the collaboration of
Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs), Domestic Violence
Forums, local authorities and voluntary organisations.
5.2 However, the level of
multi-agency cooperation and responses is variable. In some areas
relationships between the statutory and voluntary sectors are
very poor and have resulted in separate networks developing to
respond to the local need for domestic violence services.
5.3 Joint work should focus
on improving the breadth of service provision, increasing co-operation
and co-ordination between services, improving practice by developing
policy and practice guidelines, data gathering, increasing joint
initial and ongoing training, and engagement in preventive work.
Particular effort is required to develop
integrated approaches to bring together services that respond
to domestic violence (which usually focus on the needs of mothers)
with those ensuring the protection of children.
5.4 Evaluations[90]
carried out on Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs)
have shown that the agencies involved in them view them as invaluable
for ensuring agencies could assist victims more efficiently. However,
membership of MARACs places a significant demand on agencies and
many MARACs find it difficult to cope with the number and complexity
of cases referred to them.
5.5 MARACs should hold separate
meetings for cases where children witness and experience domestic
violence and cases where children are not involved. This would
ensure that voluntary sector providers are involved in the most
appropriate cases and are not overburdened.
Additional resources and funding are
needed so that victims can be and effectively responded to, and
work needs to be undertaken on how and where MARACs and Multi-Agency
Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPAs) should work together.
6. PUBLIC
EDUCATION AND
AWARENESS-RAISING
6.1 Domestic violence has
increasingly been seen as a child protection concern, but this
must be translated into an integrated policy and practice in services
for children who have experienced domestic violence. This could
be demonstrated by extending the Government's definition of domestic
violence to include children. Existing good practice in the voluntary
sector in work with children and families who have experienced
domestic violence needs to be shared and developed.
6.2 Training in awareness
of, and responding to, domestic violence should be expanded for
all those working in child protection or with children and families,
and in parent education.
6.3 The NSPCC welcomes the
Government's commitment to develop and publish a domestic violence
manual for people working with children, as set out in the National
Domestic Violence Action Plan Progress Report. This will be
an important resource for everyone working with children. This
should be widely promoted and disseminated to all professionals
working with children.
6.4 Awareness-raising programmes
should be run in both primary and secondary schools[91].
Personal Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE) can deliver
the information and skills which children need so that they can
stay safe, enjoy, achieve, contribute and achieve economic wellbeing.
6.5 PSHEE should be a statutory
subject for all key stages. We have developed a teaching resource
which focuses on personal safety, relationships at home, domestic
violence and offers practical tips and advice for children who
may be experiencing domestic violence[92].
All teachers of PSHEE should be trained and know how to handle
disclosures of violence/abuse.
7. SUPPORT
FOR VICTIMS,
INCLUDING FINANCE
AND REFUGE
SERVICES
7.1 Research into the needs
of children affected by domestic violence identified their two
primary needs as being safe and having someone to talk to.[93]
It is essential that children get whatever help they need, whenever
they need it. In addition, high thresholds mean that many 16-18
year olds do not receive support from children's services and
some vulnerable young people in violent intimate relationships
are falling through this gap and not being protected. It is important
that all children are able to access confidential and responsive
services such as ChildLine, the NSPCC Child Protection Helpline,
and the online advice centre there4me.com. These have a key role
to play and the NSPCC welcomes the government's new funding for
these services.
7.2 Schools should also offer
counselling for children who are experiencing or have experienced
domestic violence. Schools-based peer counselling should be complemented
by independent, trained school counsellors.
7.3 Children who have witnessed
domestic violence should have access to therapeutic support services.
The likelihood of reversing the negative impact of domestic violence
on children can only be achieved if they have access to specialist
child-focused therapeutic support services that are tailored to
meet their individual needs. Dedicated therapeutic work with children
should take place when the child is in a safe and child friendly
environment, over several sessions, with the same support worker.
7.4 Women from BME communities
are less likely to access statutory services for a host of reasons
including barriers at both the institutional and local level.
Very little is known about the experiences of BME children affected
by domestic violence, as research in this area tends to focus
on the needs of mothers.
7.5 The NSPCC is currently
undertaking policy research[94]
to contribute to a better understanding of the issues faced by
South Asian women and children affected by domestic violence to
develop understanding of these issues and how best to respond
to them.
8. CRIMINAL
AND CIVIL
JUSTICE PROCESSES,
INCLUDING THE
SPECIALIST DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE COURT
PROGRAMME
8.1 The development of Specialist
Domestic Violence Courts (SDVCs) and Independent Domestic Violence
Advocates (IDVAs) have resulted in better support for victims
and more cases resulting in a successful prosecution. However,
funding for both SDVCs and IDVAs is time-limited and dependent
on statutory partners. This is resulting in the delivery of patchy
services and justice for victims and their children.
It is essential that both SDVCs and IDVAs
should be sufficiently and sustainably funded to ensure they are
able successfully to prosecute cases which come before them.
9. PERPETRATOR
PROGRAMMES
9.1 Men who are violent towards
women need to learn new, appropriate responses to feelings of
jealousy and aggression. There are currently very few avenues
of practical support—especially for those perpetrators who
recognise they have a problem and would like to change their behaviour
or programmes for young men to challenge their violent behaviour
before it becomes entrenched. Services similar to innovative programmes
provided by the NSPCC such as Caring Dads, no Xcuses and the SAFE
Domestic Abuse Team and Changing Places, should be developed to
provide a coherent and coordinated approach to perpetrators and
young men with violent behaviour. These services are critical
of, and aim to change, the behaviour of violent men, while also
ensuring safety for the women and children concerned.
9.2 Most perpetrators of domestic
violence never, or only infrequently, come into contact with the
police, let alone the courts and the probation service. The police
come to know of less than a quarter of the worst cases of domestic
violence[95],
and of those incidents reported, only about a quarter result in
arrest[96].
Very few perpetrators have thus had the opportunity to be referred
to a perpetrator programme.
9.3 Additional resources must
be made available for appropriate prevention and intervention
strategies that directly target domestic violence perpetrators
and enable them to stop offending.
10. FORCED
MARRIAGE AND
"HONOUR KILLINGS"
10.1 Forced marriage can put
young people at risk in several ways and has a number of serious
harmful consequences. These include the denial of education, physical
punishment, emotional abuse, domestic violence and in some cases
murder, in incidents of so-called "honour killings"
when consent to marriage is refused. Young people often run away
before being forced into marriage, placing themselves at risk
of abuse and harm on the streets. The prospect of being forced
to marry can also increase the risk of self-harming and suicide.
Many women forced into marriage suffer sexual abuse and domestic
violence, of which in turn can affect children living in the home.
10.2 We welcome the Government's
backing of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 which
introduces injunctions for those at risk of or are already in
a forced marriage.
10.3 Although there are criminal
sanctions currently in place that can be used to prevent forced
marriages taking place, we urge the Committee to consider introducing
a criminal offence for forcing someone into marriage to send a
clear message to communities where this takes place, that the
practice is wrong and will be dealt with criminal sanctions. Any
new offence, as well as existing legislation could be used to
prosecute the practice or threat of forced marriage, should be
extended through legislation to bear extra-territorial applicability.
10.4 Professionals should
receive thorough training about what to do if they come into contact
with a young person at risk of or living in a forced marriage.
Anecdotal evidence from the NSPCC's Asian Child Protection Helpline
suggests that some local authorities respond inappropriately to
young people who are at risk of being forced into marriage. In
some cases, service responses have placed young people in more
risky situations.[97]
In the most extreme cases, the young person has disappeared and
the service has lost contact with them.
2 October 2007
79 Cawson, P (2000) Child maltreatment in the family:
the experience of a national sample of young people, London, NSPCC Back
80
The research will be published in early 2008 Back
81
Gershoff, Elizabeth Thompson (2002). "Corporal punishment
by parents and associated child behaviours and experiences: a
meta-analytic review". Psychological Bulletin, Vol.
128, no. 4. Back
82
HM Government (2006) Working Together: a guide to inter-agency
working together to safeguard children, London, HM Government Back
83
Humphreys C, "Relevant Evidence for Practice", in Humphreys
C, Stanley N (2006) Domestic Violence and Child Protection,
Jessica Kingsley Back
84
Jaffe, P, Wolfe, D and Wilson, S (1990) Children of battered
women, Newbury Park, CA, Sage Back
85
Rossman, B, Robbis, Bingham, Righard, D, Emde, Robert, N (1997)
Symptomatology and adaptive functioning for children exposed to
normative stressors, dog attack and parental violence Journal
of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 36(8):
1089-1097 Back
86
HM Government (2006) Working Together to Safeguard Children
Stationery Office, London Back
87
ibid Back
88
Hester M, Pearson C (1998) From Periphery to Centre-Domestic Violence
in Work with Abused Children, Bristol: The Policy Press Back
89
Cawson, P (2002) Child maltreatment in the family: the experience
of a national sample of young people, London, NSPCC Back
90
Robinson A (2004) Domestic Violence MARACs for Very High Risk
Victims in Cardiff, Wales: A Process and Outcome Evaluation, Cardiff
University: Cardiff Back
91
Hester M, Westmarland N (2005) Tackling Domestic Violence: effective
interventions and approaches, Home Office Research, Development
and Statistics Directorate Back
92
NSPCC (2005) Promoting Personal Safety in PSHE London, NSPCC Back
93
Mullender A, Hague G, Umme I, Kelly L, Malos E, Regan L, (2002),
"Children's perspectives on domestic violence",
London: Sage Back
94
The research will be published in early 2008 Back
95
Walby, S and Allen, J (2004) Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault
and Stalking: findings from the British Crime Survey, Home Office
Research Study No. 276, Home Office: London. Back
96
Hester M, Hanmer, J, Coulson, S, Morahan, M & Razak, A (2003)
Domestic Violence: Making it Through the Criminal Justice System,
University of Sunderland & the Northern Rock Foundation; Hester,
M. (2006) "Making It Through the Criminal Justice System:
Attrition and Domestic Violence", Social Policy and Society,
5 (1): 79-90. Back
97
Further, anonymised, detail about this can be provide on request Back
| 
