Domestic abuse, trauma and education
– September 2020
At least one child in every school class will experience domestic abuse.[1] Domestic abuse can be traumatising for children and young people and can affect all areas of children’s lives, including health, education, development and relationships.[2] This can have devastating effects on their wellbeing and outcomes. Domestic abuse is identified as an adverse childhood experience (ACE), ACEs are stressful events occurring in childhood that have long-term impacts on health and behaviour.[3] While it is not an inevitable consequence of domestic abuse, children and young people might experience intense feelings of fear and anxiety, low self-esteem and depression, and they might face behavioural and developmental challenges such as finding it difficult to concentrate in school, difficulties sleeping, and may find it harder to regularly attend school. This means that children who experience domestic abuse are at risk of poorer educational attainment and increased inequality throughout their lives.
The impact of measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in elevated and sustained levels of trauma and re-traumatisation for many children and young people in Scotland, and children who have experienced domestic abuse and trauma may be adversely impacted by this.[4] We have seen evidence that schools being closed during lockdown and reduced access to other services results in many children’s experiences of domestic abuse being ‘hidden’.[5] Children have had fewer opportunities to talk to trusted adults outside their home (such as school staff) about their experiences of domestic abuse, either past or present and they have had significantly reduced access to formal and informal support networks, such as family, friends and other trusted adults. Additionally, remote learning has made it much more challenging for school staff to pick up on indicators of domestic abuse.[6]
For children with past experiences of domestic abuse who do not live with the perpetrator, dealing with their sustained trauma during lockdown restrictions may have exacerbated negative impacts on their health and wellbeing. Not being able to access specialist services or other forms of support is likely to have exacerbated the impact of trauma for children and young people affected by domestic abuse. A lack of access to services may have also been used as a means for perpetrators to manipulate child contact during lockdown and present further risk to children.[7] It is therefore anticipated that a rise in disclosures will occur in schools and other childcare settings following a period with a lack of or limited access to support coupled with potential increased risk and sustained trauma.
In this blog series, we have previously highlighted the importance of embedding domestic abuse support in Scotland’s recovery and renewal planning in order to ensure children and young people have access to support as early as possible. Evidence shows that to improve long-term outcomes for children and young people, systems must recognise the impact of domestic abuse and provide access to safe, effective, trauma-informed support.[8] It has also been evidenced that such support for domestic abuse and other ACEs can increase mental wellbeing and attainment in school-age children.[9] For example, Cedar’s recovery model helps children and their mothers understand their trauma and they report increased safety and wellbeing. Cedar has also been evidenced to improve children’s concentration and confidence in school.[10]
Now that schools have reopened in Scotland, it is vital that education staff are supported to understand the impact of trauma and domestic abuse, and have the skills, knowledge and confidence to ensure that children and young people receive/ are signposted to specialist services at the earliest opportunity.[11] Signposting to appropriate services for children and young people is an important way in which education staff can help children understand that they are not alone and that support is available. Education staff will need to understand the behaviours children may exhibit if they have experienced domestic abuse, and how to provide a safe environment to discuss this. In recent weeks, Cedar coordinators have found that many children they’ve been supporting have been anxious about their return to school, and have also found aspects of home schooling and lockdown challenging. It will be important that school staff are supported to help children in their recovery and understand the challenges they might have in the transition back to school. There are a number of useful resources that can help schools support children and young people affected by domestic abuse (links below), such as knowing how to respond to disclosures of domestic abuse and knowing what specialist support is available locally. This proactive work between education staff and specialist domestic abuse services to produce such resources will help prepare staff to support children in the coming months.
A key part of Scotland’s COVID-19 recovery and renewal is to ensure that children and young people have the chance to thrive and achieve their potential, and ensuring children affected by domestic abuse have access to crisis and recovery support is vital to achieving Scotland’s ambition of meeting UNCRC standards. Children are now able to go to school and services are exploring how to resume face-to-face support, however there may be circumstances where they will have to temporarily return to home-schooling and receiving remote support. Local authorities can work to support specialist domestic abuse services in their capacity to alter their delivery of support to children and young people, such as ensuring that any local funding expectations are flexible. Domestic abuse support for children and young people should be embedded in contingency plans for potential local or national lockdowns/increased restrictions which may occur in the near future.
[1] Children, young people, and the involvement of Children’s Services, SafeLives Insights National Briefing (2017)
[2] Children, young people and domestic abuse: impact, support and recovery, Improvement Service, (2019)
[3] Ending childhood adversity: A public health approach, Public Health Scotland, (2020)
[4] Vulnerable children report, Scottish Government and SOLACE, (2020)
[5] Domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) during COVID-19 lockdown, for the period 30/3/20 – 22/05/20, Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services, (2020)
[6] Domestic abuse: information for educators, Education Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid, (2020)
[7] Domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) during COVID-19 lockdown, for the period 30/3/20 – 22/05/20, Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services, (2020)
[8] Covid-19 & Domestic abuse: Support & recovery for children & young people, Scottish Women’s Aid, Cedar and Improvement Service, (2020)
[9] Ending childhood adversity: A public health approach, Public Health Scotland, (2020)
[10] Cedar Project – Evaluation Report, Research for real, (2007)
[11] Coronavirus (COVID-19) Supplementary National Violence Against Women Guidance, COSLA and Scottish Government, (2020)