Children: the hidden victims of domestic abuse

An estimated 160,000 children in England are currently living in households where domestic abuse is taking place. Yet life-saving services are being forced to strip back their dedicated children and young people’s domestic abuse services in order to keep their doors open.¹ Over half of the residents in refuge are children.²

This is why we’ve teamed up with WCRS to launch a new cinema advert which shines a light on the hidden victims of domestic abuse: children.

Trigger warning: domestic abuse

We want to support more women and children to escape domestic abuse, but we need your help.

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Children like Daisy

Daisy grew up in a home blighted by violence as her father emotionally and physically abused her mother. He completely controlled her mother’s life, threatening her with a knife and telling her he was going to kill her. This left the children terrified. Daisy now campaigns for young survivors of domestic abuse and hopes sharing her story will help others.

“Giving a voice to young survivors and witnesses of domestic abuse is so important. As a child, I witnessed my dad turn from a loving father to a monster at the drop of a hat.
My mum was able to use her experience to help women and children who have experienced abuse in her role as the CEO of Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid. She has inspired me to tell my story to help others try to understand the wider effect of domestic abuse.”

Daisy Kneer, child survivor and campaigner

1. Women’s Aid estimate that over 160,000 children are living with domestic abuse. This is based on responses received to our Annual Survey 2017 which told us the number of women supported in community based services (e.g. floating support, outreach or IDVA services) during the year 2016/17 by respondents. We used this figure to estimate the number of women who would have been supported by all community based services listed on our Routes to Support database during the year at 154,306. Our ‘Week to Count’ survey showed that on average women using these services during one week in July 2017 had 1.04 children with them. We therefore estimate that during the year women supported by these services had 160,478 children with them.
2. Survival and Beyond, Women’s Aid 2018.

Children: the hidden victims of domestic abuse

Children: the hidden victims of domestic abuse

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