The number of contacts to the NSPCC from people concerned about children living in homes with domestic abuse rose by almost 50% since the introduction of national lockdown measures.
The children’s charity said that between April and September 2020, more than 4,500 concerns were raised by members of the public, with 818 contacts in August alone.
NSPCC frontline staff who work with mothers and children facing domestic abuse at home said their experiences back up the statistics.
Back in April, just weeks after lockdown measures were introduced, the charity Refuge which runs the National Domestic Abuse helpline reported that calls to the helpline had risen by 120 per cent overnight on 6 April while traffic to their website had sky rocketed by 700 per cent from the previous day.
The NSPCC has supported more than 2,000 women and children across the UK over the past 10 years through its Domestic Abuse Recovering Together (DART) service. From working with families in this way, the charity says it understands the importance of community-based support.
Currently, however, there is no legal requirement to provide specialist support services. Such services are crucial in helping children recover from domestic abuse and move forward with their lives.
The charity is calling for:
- Local authority recovery services for children living with domestic abuse.
- These services to be made a legal requirement, and to receive funding.
- Agencies to sign up to deliver their community-based recovery service.
