Domestic abuse/violence – the impact on children

Domestic abuse doesn’t just affect the victim; if there are children in the family, they will bear the scars emotionally and mentally potentially into adulthood. No matter what the age, those children will be influenced by whatever they witness or hear.

Children are like sponges; they absorb everything that they see and hear. They learn how to behave and speak from the people closest to them; with whom they spend the most time; those they love. The child living in amidst an abusive situation – whether the abuse be physical, emotional, psychological or otherwise – runs a substantial risk of “inheriting” any or all of the unhealthy behaviour they have seen, heard, sensed or experienced. Alternatively, as they get older they may well become violent themselves due to the anger that has built up inside of them over the years that they have witnessed the unjust treatment of one parent by another. Clearly, this is extremely distressing for the child, and also for the parent who sees then that they could have done something to prevent this from happening; but sadly, they accepted the situation and hoped for the best. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as they say, but help is out there and this need not be the case anymore.