ADVANCE programme – substance use and IPV

A new documentary was aired  in the UK by Channel 5 which focuses on domestic violence.  Two women Hazel and Kellys’ stories are told using footage gathered by the police officer’s body cameras who attend the scene, taped recordings of the women’s 999 calls and interviews with the women in the months that follow their last assaults. Both women now have restraining orders, further harassment has occurred and both discuss a persistent feeling of being unsafe.

You can access the programme The Abused here. You can access another documentary on Channel 5 focusing on how to leave an abusive relationship safely here.

Data suggests that around 250,000 children currently living with domestic violence in England but they are not treated as victims. The NSPCC is calling for a change in the law to recognise the life long effects of experiencing DV in the household as a child.

They commented that the current proposals “ignore the effect growing up in abusive households has on children” and leaves them without support.

The NSPCC said the situation could be legally recognised in the government’s Domestic Violence and Abuse White Paper. A consultation closed in May 2018 but the government have yet to publish the outcome of this consultation. A further argument is  that giving children legal recognition as victims of domestic abuse would allow increased use of protection orders, help professionals intervene and authorities to provide trauma services.

You can read more here.