Category: families

‘Domestic abuse hurts children, whether they are the direct target, or find themselves witness to warfare in their home. The latest government figures show that half of all children assessed as needing social services support are in that plight through domestic abuse – and when social workers feel a child is no longer safe at home, they can be removed into the care system. This means being taken away from their mothers – typically the victim in all this. But she’s not usually the one being violent. Most often, it’s the children’s father or stepfather who is. As rates of reported domestic abuse soar – incidents sufficiently serious to be recorded by police as crimes rose 5% between 2016 and 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics – it’s estimated by the charity Safe Lives that 130,000 children live in households with “high‑risk” domestic abuse. So why are victims investigated by social services, rather than the perpetrators who cause such physical and mental harm?’

Full Story

Family Law, 14th January 2018

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk