Working with Children and Young People
Engagement with children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse has been a crucial element of the National Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children and Young People and will continue to do so throughout the implementation process and beyond.
What do Children and Young People think about the National Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children and Young People?
Children and young people told us in the Delivery Plan that:
- "Grown ups think they should hide it and shouldn't tell us, but we want to know. We want to be involved and we want out mums to talk with us about what they are going to do - we could help make decisions."
- "I am very scared and frightened of my daddy. I am mad with my daddy for hurting my mummy and me and my sisters and brother, I want my daddy to stay out of my life but he is taking it to court to see us...I am very scared in case no- one listens to me, I want to be heard what if they don't listen? I don't want to be made to see my dad please help me and my family."
- "I went from a straight 'A' student to failing every class because I was concentrating on what was going on at home."
- "I used to tell teachers and my friends at school what he (the father) was like and they, I could see they believed me but they couldn't do anything about it, ... it didn't really help me a lot because they didn't really help me help my mum."
- "I always felt like I wanted somebody to speak to because I was feeling like I was just piling and piling it all on myself,...I couldn't really talk to my mum about things no matter how close we were, because it was her that I was trying to protect, it was all to do wi' her that I was wanting to talk to somebody about."
- "Counselling is kinda branding that there's something wrong with you, but there's nothing wrong with you, you've just been through an ordeal."
- "I feel more happier when I talk about it, than keeping it inside. It helps because they know what I've been through and they know what me mum's been through and it helps a lot."
- "It's about getting it out, let people know that the help is there, and it can be accessed through schools and other organisations. Not a lot of children and young people that go through domestic abuse know where the help is and how to access it, and you need to let them know. Some that don't go through domestic abuse but know someone that is going through it might want to seek help so that they could help their friend so therefore they could get as much information as possible and so they could pass it on."