The NSPCC is making an average of 108 referrals a month to local authorities and the police in the East, as adults continue to call in worried about children living with domestic abuse since the start of the crisis.
The latest figures are a 93% jump compared to before the pandemic and reveal that in the nine months since the beginning of April there were 970 referrals made in the East and Thames Valley by the helpline.
Concerned neighbours have increasingly reported hearing non-stop arguing and kids crying to the charity’s confidential helpline for adults worried about children.
The NSPCC’s frontline teams are concerned that the risk of young people suffering the toxic consequences of domestic abuse has been heightened.
One member of the public who called the Helpline for advice said:
“For the past few weeks, I’ve been hearing loud and aggressive shouting between a man and woman who live a few doors away from me. They’re at it pretty much every day and it generally lasts a couple of hours. Sometimes I hear their children crying when the parents are arguing. I’ve only really noticed this since I’ve been at home on furlough. I’m worried the kids aren’t being looked after properly.”
Left unaddressed this form of abuse can have profound and long-term impacts on children’s physical and mental wellbeing that can last into adulthood.
Ian Erridge from Chelmsford in Essex, suffered domestic abuse at the hands of his father as a child, he said: “My mum and I were physically and emotionally abused by my father, it started when I was six and back then there wasn’t Childline or awareness raising groups like there are today.
“I watched my mum mentally deteriorate over those years as I became a teenager, she had become a shell of herself suffering through all the abuse. Even if my father hadn’t turned his hand on me, I would still have suffered greatly from the abuse he put my mum through.
“Domestic abuse should be taught as part of compulsory education in schools as being able to spot the signs from an early age will aid in stepping over the complete confusion that falls on children when they witness and suffer through such things. Self-blame is commonplace, anger fuelled by fear is inevitable and we should always seek to guard children from growing up to feel the very things I felt or even worse.”
Last year, the Government amended their landmark Domestic Abuse Bill to recognise that children do experience domestic abuse and could also be victims. This followed years of campaigning by the NSPCC and other children’s charities.
As the Bill enters Committee Stage this week, the NSPCC is now urging parliamentarians to put pressure on the Government to accept a further amendment that will place a statutory duty on local agencies to provide community-based services so children can access support wherever they live.
Without this, the charity fears funding for community-based services, that are crucial in helping children to recover, could be diverted to prioritise accommodation-based services that councils have a legal duty to provide.
This new duty must be backed up by adequate funding for local agencies so they can deliver it.
Anna Edmundson, NSPCC Head of Policy, said: “The risk of domestic abuse has been heightened in the last nine months with families living under increasing pressure and behind closed doors.
“To stop the pandemic having a lasting impact on children who suffer in this way it is vital they have access to support in the community to recover and move forward with their lives as not all victims can go to a refuge for support.
“The Government has taken the crucial step of recognising the profound impact domestic abuse has on children’s wellbeing but they now need to go further and ensure there are services for children in the community, wherever they live.”
One community-based service is the NSPCC’s Domestic Abuse Recovering Together (DART) programme which supports mothers and children to deal with the impact of domestic abuse.
DART is delivered from the charity’s service centres across the country and also provides victims with an opportunity to meet others who have lived through similar experiences.
Young people who experience domestic abuse can have, trouble learning, depression or suicidal thoughts, or develop eating disorders drugs or alcohol problems.
