Councils call for hospital advisers to protect children from domestic violence
Tristan Donovan
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Councils have called for independent domestic violence advisers to be deployed in hospitals as part of efforts to protect children from domestic abuse.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said the advisers, who spot signs of abuse and help victims get support, alongside more funding for early intervention services, are needed to tackle the high prevalence of domestic violence in children in need cases. Currently only one in 10 hospitals have advisers in place.
Department for Education figures released in November show that domestic violence is the single most common problem experienced by children in need and occurs in 49.9 per cent of cases.
The LGA said the government should use its pledge to introduce a Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill, made in the Queen's Speech, to shift the focus of domestic abuse services from dealing with the aftermath to early intervention and prevention.
"It's awful to imagine the pain and hurt that perpetrators inflict on victims and to think of children witnessing or even being victims of abuse," Simon Blackburn, chair of the LGA's safer and stronger communities board, said.
"With almost two million victims of domestic abuse in the last year alone, we need the government to include early intervention and preventative measures in its comprehensive package of reforms to address domestic abuse as the best way to tackle this issue."
In addition to calling for more independent domestic violence advisers in hospitals, the LGA also wants more education for young people on healthy relationships, the establishment of initiatives that stop perpetrators reoffending, and more money to help local authorities offer early intervention services.
It added that exposure to domestic violence as a child increases the risk of children becoming involved in crime and developing behavioural problems in later life.
"Failure to invest in these services will have long-term consequences for our country's children and families and create crises which are much more expensive to solve in the long run," Blackburn said.
In the Queen's Speech the government pledged to pass new laws that would create a domestic violence and abuse commissioner tasked with holding councils, statutory agencies and the justice system to account on their work to tackle the problem.
The government also said it planned to give courts powers to hand down tougher sentences on perpetrators of domestic violence if a child is involved.
