Children often see and get drawn into domestic abuse.  Even when they don’t witness it, children know when domestic abuse is happening at home, and it can deeply affect them and go on to cause problems through-out their lives. This is why Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness wants to make sure there are no gaps in the support provisions for children as part of her commitment to ensuring they are not the forgotten victims in domestic abuse.

The Commissioner’s office has just secured £982,335 in funding for the region, which will boost a programme of specialist services which hope to reach around 1500 children and non-offending parents with therapies and interventions. The project is made up of play therapy, counselling, and group support.

Local services that have been commissioned to deliver the project, working alongside the Northumbria Violence Reduction Unit, are: The Acorns Project, The Angelou Centre, Action for Children, Community Counselling Cooperative, Impact Family Services and Wearside Women in Need.

One in seven (14.2%) children and young people under the age of 18 will have lived with domestic abuse at some point in their childhood. This might be hearing abuse from upstairs, seeing a parent injured or in distress, getting caught up in violence trying to protect a loved one, or even being harmed directly.

In some cases, experiencing domestic abuse can be an indirect form of child abuse. In fact, data released by the NSPCC earlier this year found child cruelty and neglect cases in the Northeast had increased by a fifth over the last two years, based on figures from Northumbria Police.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, said: “We must put ourselves in the child’s shoes and give them a safe space and a way of allowing them to explore what troubles them on their own terms, such as through play.

“Support available often focuses on the adult – the victim and survivor – and of course that’s right but we need to have services for children in equal measure. Here in the North-East we are lucky to have established providers who very much have kids on their radar. Although they recognise the great need, they don’t always have the resources to do the work they know is desperately needed. This is why I want to make sure their work is properly funded to ensure that it’s at the forefront of their delivery and can be accessed by children no matter where they live in our region.”

She continued: “We know exposure to domestic abuse can lead to a range of difficulties like stress, anger and trauma, which in turn can lead to problematic behaviours and problems in later life. Work like play therapy can help children manage their feelings and overcome their difficulties. This not only benefits the child, their family, and the wider community but can lead to healthier and happier adult lives.

Children exposed to abuse and violence can experience significant trauma, leading to behaviours – such as substance misuse, drinking too much, and self-harm as well as attempts to be perfect, to over perform at school or to please everyone – all of which can harm the individual and sometimes others around them. We can’t allow that to happen – it’s not fair on these children – and I see this work as a long-term approach to preventing long-term harm and addressing this important public health issue.”

Abby Traynor, Chief Executive at Acorns Project who cover Northumberland and North Tyneside, said: “We hugely welcome this investment in our services for families, now that children and young people have been recognised by the government as victims of domestic abuse in their own right, a message that we have been advocating for many years.   We are excited to continue to work with Kim and our partners in Northumbria to ensure that families get excellent bespoke, timely and appropriate support to aid them in their recovery”

Simon Campbell from Community Counselling Cooperative who work across Tyne and Wear said: “The capacity for children to change psychologically is as great if not greater than adults. This project gives real hope of breaking cycles of domestic abuse and intergenerational trauma. The benefits of which can reverberate all the way down to these children’s future grandchildren.”

Becky Rogerson, Director at Wearside Women in Need in Sunderland, said: “This funding will transform our approach in Sunderland. We want to reach as many children and young people as possible to make sense of their experiences and realise their full potential.”

Lisa Arnell, from South Shields based Impact Family Services, said: “A huge thanks to Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner for her continued championing of best practice in relation to children and young people who have experienced domestic violence in the region; we are proud to be part of such an exciting partnership which endeavours to put children and young people at the heart of what they do –  the children in South Tyneside will benefit greatly.”

 

The funding was secured following a successful bid by Kim McGuinness’s office to the Home Office’s Children Affected by Domestic Abuse (CADA) Fund.

ENDS

PHOTO: Kim McGuinness on a past visit to Acorns Project in North Shields

Notes to editors:

Funding will ensure the following core services were available in all 6 local authority areas:

  • Play therapy – which builds on normal communicative and learning processes to help younger children explore what is troubling them without relying on verbal language skills.
  • Counselling – which, in the context of domestic abuse can be undertaken effectively with individual children and young people or with the child and non-offending parent.
  • Therapeutic groupwork –undertaken with children and young people alone and/or alongside the non-offending parent and offering benefits linked to the group process, as well as content.
  • Support for the non–offending parent – so they can actively support their child to engage with the help on offer.