The Impact of Domestic Violence on Young Victims and Witnesses: Resilience and Recovery

Dear Colleagues,

Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) has been recognised as a global issue affecting a substantial number of adults and their children, whether as direct victims or indirectly. Children and young people might also experience direct abuse; however, even indirectly, they are aware of DVA in their homes either by hearing or seeing it while being in the same room, hearing from another room, or observing the aftermath of broken items in the home, injuries to their parent(s), or the emotional impacts on, for example, their non-abusive parent (Jaffe et al., 1990; Mullender, 2006). The NSPCC estimates that around one in five children are exposed to DVA (Radford et al., 2011). Accordingly, research has turned its attention towards the impact that experiencing domestic violence may have on young people residing in abusive households (McGee, 2000; Mullender et al., 2002; Buckley et al., 2007). However, much research focuses on clinical and refuge samples (Hester et al., 2007). Domestic violence is often hidden and has been described as ‘the family secret’, with concerns about the anxiety and uncertainty created for children by a constant atmosphere in the family home (Saunders, 1995; McGee, 1997; Hester et al., 2007). Several diverse and varying impacts including psychological, behavioural, social, and educational effects on children and young people have been identified. Children and young people often take on a sense of responsibility for the abuse experienced or attempt to mitigate or manage abusive situations themselves, which unfairly burdens them. However, they also show remarkable resilience. While working as a volunteer children’s worker for a Barnardo’s project in the West Midlands, I encountered stories of young people who took responsibility for cleaning mum’s blood off the carpet after an assault to prevent another violent assault on their mother from her father when he returned home from work. On another occasion, a young boy strapped his younger brother (a toddler) into a pushchair to take them to their grandparents’ house down the street for protection when a domestic incident was occurring in his home. It is widely acknowledged that to ‘break the cycle’ of violence, children, young people, and their families need robust and extensive ongoing support through a multi-service integrated response to identify and meet the complex needs of victims sufficiently and safely. Every child has the right to grow up safe from harm and should feel that those who they love are also protected (UNICEF, 2006).

References

Buckley, H., Holt, S., & Whelan, S. 2007. Listen to Me!: Children’s Experiences of Domestic Violence. Child Abuse Review 16(5), 296–310.

Hester, M., Pearson, C., Harwin, N., & Abrahams, H. 2007. Making an impact. Children and domestic violence: A reader (2nd ed.). Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Jaffe, P. P., Wolfe, D. A., & Wilson, S. 1990. Children of battered women. Sage.

McGee, C. 1997. Children’s Experiences of Domestic Violence. Child and Family Social Work 2, 13–23.

McGee, C. 2000a. Childhood experiences of domestic violence. Jessica Kingsley.

Mullender, A. 2006. What Children Tell Us: “He said he was going to kill our mum”. In C. Humphreys, & N. Stanley, (Eds.), Domestic violence and child protection; directions for good practice (pp. 53–68). Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Mullender, A., Hague, G., Imam, U., Kelly, L., Malos, E., & Regan, L. 2002. Children’s perspectives on domestic violence. Sage.

Radford, L., Corral, S., Bradley, C., Fisher, H., Bassett, C., Howat, N., & Collishaw, S. 2011. Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. NSPCC.

Saunders, A. 1995. Introduction. In A. Saunders (Ed.), “It hurts me too”: Childhood experiences of domestic violence and refuge life (pp. 1–3). Women’s Aid Federation England, Childline and the National Institute for Social Work.

UNICEF. 2006. Behind closed doors: The impact of domestic violence on children. UNICEF and The Body Shop International Plc.

Dr. Karlie E. Stonard
Guest Editor

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• domestic violence and abuse
• children
• young people
• witnessing abuse
• exposure
• impact