Child Work

Our dedicated Child Worker is there to provide support to children who come to stay in our refuge. Living in a refuge can be unsettling for children but it can also be a positive experience. Like adults, children have a voice and a right to be heard. Once they have been removed from the environment of fear and abuse, opportunities can be given to children to offload their worries and express their confusion and fears through therapeutic play. A range of play, craft and social activities are organised for children with their mothers to enhance the bond between mother and child and to help children to move on from their experiences.

The effects of domestic abuse on children can be many and varied, even if they are not experiencing abuse directly. 90% of children whose mothers experience domestic abuse witness it by either seeing or hearing it. Many try to intervene.

The effects of domestic abuse on children can be as follows:

Sleep: They might experience bed-wetting or nightmares because of what they have witnessed. They may keep themselves awake because they are afraid of what is happening to mummy.

Education: They might feel unable to concentrate at school or they may play truant because they are worried about what is happening at home.

Health: Sleep deprivation and physical neglect may result from an abusive relationship. An abused woman might be less able to give attention to their child(ren). An abuser is likely to disrupt meal times, teaching children to associate food with fear.

Social Isolation: Children may be afraid or embarrassed to bring friends home from school because of what might happen. The abuser may have isolated the woman and her children from other friends and family.

Beliefs: Children might learn to believe that women are stupid, subservient, worthless, and that violence is normal or that violence means love.

These are by no means the only effects that domestic abuse can have on children; the list goes on. However, with the right support and care children can recover from the harm they might suffer in an abusive home and develop in to very happy and healthy people.