Conservative conference: Call for child support funding in domestic violence cases

Hosting a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference, charity Women's Aid said ensuring there were specific child advocate and support services in refuges was a key step in preventing children returning to abusive situations.

Nicola Harwin, chief executive of the charity, said: "Independent advocates are essential, especially where there is a conflict of interest between the non-abusing adult and the child."

But Harwin said the current lack of state funding was putting these services at risk.

"Specialist services are continuously under threat," she said. "Most of our funding comes from Children in Need, which is not sustainable in the long term.

"In fact it is considering not continuing with funding because it says these are services that should be supported by the state."

Harwin also called for domestic violence to be brought into the heart of family policy and the criminal justice system. She said the lack of communication between the two areas meant families were "falling through the cracks".

Helen Grant, prospective Conservative candidate for Maidstone and the Weald, and senior partner in a family law firm, agreed there was insufficient long-term funding for voluntary sector agencies supporting the child victims of domestic abuse.

Women's Aid, which has developed an educational toolkit for teachers to teach children about issues relating to domestic abuse, is lobbying the government to make domestic violence a compulsory part of the personal, social and health education curriculum.

Nicki Norman, deputy chief executive of Women's Aid, said: "The subject of domestic violence is already being talked about in the playground. By not talking to children about this we are colluding in making it a secret."