Clause 33 - Grants for assisting victims, witnesses etc
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords]
2:45 pm
Ms Vera Baird (Redcar, Labour)
It appears to be possible that grants could be paid to people under clause 33(1)
''in connection with measures which appear . . . to be intended to assist victims, witnesses or other persons'',
but I am not sure about that. I ask the Minister to make clear what he envisages that wording allowing. At the moment, the situation is not a happy one.
The amendment presents a clear understanding, which the Government also have, of the potential damage to children from domestic violence. The Government recently made it clear that three quarters of children on the at-risk register live in households in which domestic violence occurs. The Department of Health acknowledges that domestic violence is a major indicator of risk to children and that perpetrators who are violent to their partners are frequently violent to their children.
There is an understanding that goes beyond the danger of physical injury to a child, as well as a parent, which is that a child will suffer from the trauma and shock of being exposed to violence inflicted by one party—usually one carer—on another. The amendment is intended to ensure that the use of the word ''victims'' in the clause is wide enough to permit the Secretary of State to give grants to children who have not physically been injured but who have witnessed very unpleasant things.
A recent book, ''Children's Perspectives on Domestic Violence'', written partly by Professor Liz Kelly of London Metropolitan university, consists in part of children who lived with domestic violence saying what they needed and what they suffered in that situation. Their replies were described as being astonishingly clear and consistent. The most commonly cited need was, not surprisingly, safety, but the next most common was someone to talk to. In the book, a nine-year-old girl speaking from her own experience said that people
''need someone to talk to. Because, if they were like me, sometimes I'm really sad and I need someone to talk to''.
She said that people may not be able to
''speak to the mum because maybe their mum don't want to talk about it. I think they should have someone to talk to.''
Clearly, that is not a desire for a chat; it is a profound need for a proper channel of communication with someone responsible, so that children who suffer exposure to violent behaviour can talk about the stresses that they suffer, their incomprehension and the impact that the behaviour has had on their development.
Children in the study also stated that the support services that they valued most in their sad youthful experience of domestic violence were those provided by children's support workers in refuges. Refuge organisations in England provide accommodation for about 23,500 children a year, and support services for about 110,000 children a year. They try to offer a wide range of services, including play, outings, and one-to-one support of the kind that I mentioned, involving advocacy and after care. Such organisations are the only widespread, dedicated source of support for children who have experienced domestic violence. However, children's support services in refuges are not mentioned in ''Every Child Matters''.
There is always the law of unintended consequences, and Women's Aid has made it clear that recent Government initiatives—unintentionally, I am sure—are effectively reducing support services for children in that category. Women's Aid relates that children's services in refuges are starved of funds, because the funding comes through the ''supporting people'' programme, and its funding regime is not aimed at children. However, children make up two thirds of the refuge population.
National standards for day care for under-eights have set staffing ratio and minimum space standards that only some 40 per cent. of refuges can ever afford to meet. Some refuge organisations have had to cut back drastically on the services that they offer. Women's Aid is carrying out a survey to find out in detail how refuge organisations are responding to the national standards, but it seems as though only 25 per cent. of organisations will be able to comply with national standards.
Women's Aid points out that children who have been involved in proceedings relating to violent parents need to be assessed properly. In May 2003, Women's Aid carried out a survey of 170 refuge organisations and domestic violence services. Some 83 per cent. of those services, which are at the cutting edge of expertise in terms of children who suffer from domestic violence, say that the ability to assess children is currently limited, because assessments during proceedings tend to be one-off interviews with someone whom the child does not know. That means that the child does not have the opportunity to receive a service that is absolutely necessary even for adults: the opportunity to talk about the most intimate aspects of family life. We are talking about a relationship built on trust, and it is much harder to achieve that with children.
In the Women's Aid briefing, there are plenty of expressions of the fact that it is difficult for children to disclose material at one-off interviews. There is a strong suggestion in the material before us that, in private law proceedings, issues concerning children and arising from domestic violence and abuse are not being got at adequately. The amendment makes clear what the Secretary of State is prepared to do and how widely the clause can be interpreted. Children who experience domestic violence must have safety and support urgently.