OVER 20,000 DISCLOSURES of domestic violence against women and children were made to Women’s Aid last year, with the charity calling for greater recognition of the risk to children during access arrangements with domestic violence perpetrators.
It wants improved State interventions and protections, and said that the risk posed by a domestic violence perpetrator should be taken into account with measures put in place to protect children – including an assumption of no contact – until the child’s safety can be guaranteed. Included within this were 141 disclosures of abuse while the woman was pregnant, with a number saying they’d experienced miscarriage because of the abuse.
Many women who contacted Women’s Aid said they were worried about protecting their children, the report said. The Impact Report will be launched today alongside Minister for Children Katherine Zappone and the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Geoffrey Shannon.