Left alone: The number of children affected by domestic violence is rising. Image by Mario Vercellotti via Flick
Thousands of Victorian children are being left behind without proper support or help as the number of family violence cases skyrocket.
There were almost 61,000 family violence incidents reported to Victoria Police in the past year.
This increased number of reported domestic violence incidents is hurting Melbourne’s youngest residents most, with children being named the largest category of protected persons in Victoria.
Fiona McCormack, Chief Executive Officer of Domestic Violence Victoria, said it was the introduction of police standing orders in 2004, which has helped women report violence but said it shouldn’t be happening at all.
“It’s absolutely preventable,” she says.
“Women are getting stronger messages now that domestic violence is an issue police and the community take seriously.
“In the old days, there was a tendency for police to dismiss domestic violence as a non-issue but now action is being taken.”
Leah* was six years old when her dad violently assaulted her mum.
Police immediately removed her and younger brother, Kye, from the house leaving behind their toys, school belongings, clothes and beloved dogs.
They lived with family members in different towns, spent weeks in motels and violence refuges and attended four different schools that year struggling to adjust to the different curriculums.
According to Ms McCormack, a lack of funding means children who witness physical, emotional and sexual abuse of parents, and who are sometimes the target of abuse themselves, are not provided with adequate services.
“In many ways we’re failing kids in Victoria,” she says.
“Nothing done in the last 40 years has really helped victims of domestic violence.”
As the statistics escalate, Melbourne’s child support organisations are struggling to keep up with demand.
Gayle Correnti, Senior Manager of Berry Street Family and Domestic Violence service said the 37 per cent increase in assistance over the past three years is affecting their services.
“Resources shift to contacting women to see how you can support them in the moment, and there are less resources to do the longer term work you might want to do,” she says.
“When it comes to working with children, there are very few resources and little funding.”
Victims of domestic violence, including children, are waiting up to five months for counselling which Ms Correnti said is often too late.
“By the time you think of taking the child to a counsellor, the behaviour is ingrained in the behaviour of the child,” she says.
Behavioural and emotional issues can include learning difficulties, difficulty socialising, anxiety and using violence to solve problems.
“We are working with a seven year old at the moment who can only go to school two hours a day because school says they have a number of difficult children and this is the way they want to handle him. What’s his life trajectory only doing two hours of school per day?” says Ms Correnti.
“Family violence isn’t in a pocket happening to some people, it needs to be dealt with.”
While education is the key to success in Australian society, a lack of affordable housing is keeping children in violent households and worsening their prospects.
“Women and children are temporarily placed in hotels so kids are in an environment not conducive to their health and well-being so families often return to violent households,” Domestic Violence Victoria CEO, Fiona McCormack says.
She wants awareness raised and government investment in the social issue improved.
Family violence is wrongly believed to be more prevalent in certain cultural groups and caused by excessive alcohol but it could happen to anyone, according to Ms McCormack.
* not her real name
