Thirty percent of children who experience family violence have a disability

The research from the independent organisation, led by Professor Sally Robinson from Flinders University’s Disability and Community Inclusion branch of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, uncovered the prevalence of domestic and family violence impacting children with disability.

The aim of this study, Connecting the dots: Understanding the DFV experiences of children and young people with disability within and across sectors, was to investigate how policies and systems can be improved, as well as the services needed, to better respond and support children with disability who are experiencing domestic and family violence.

Lead Researcher Professor Robinson says that it is important to note that children and young people with disability are children first, who have interests, are human, make contributions and have a sense of fun, and their family relationships are complex for other reasons.

“The over-representation of children and young people with disability is not because of the children themselves,” explains Professor Robinson.

“In our study, children and their families had unmet needs for support, experienced unresponsive service systems and intersecting disadvantage relating to violence, poverty, housing crisis and discrimination.

“Their complex, compounding circumstances often included disability, but disability did not drive domestic and family violence.”

The research analysed Western Australia police and hospitalisation data and also found that children with disability were far more likely to have contact with child protection services and to enter out-of-home care.

Additionally, children with disability are twice as likely to have a mother hospitalised due to domestic and family violence.

The researchers of this study also spoke with children, young people, families and practitioners about family and domestic violence, with many describing their experiences as isolating and having an impact on their sense of safety.

The children and young people with disability also exhibited signs of trauma due to their experiences.

Some of the issues that children and young people with disability, and their families and supporting practitioners faced when looking for assistance included:

• Years stuck on support service waitlists
• Barriers accessing support from Government agencies
• Barriers accessing financial assistance
• Fear of harm by a violent parent during access visits with children
• Discontinuity of care when services providers don’t attend set appointments

ANROWS believes that the issues children with disability and their families face tells a “story of a system” that isn’t meeting their needs and requires urgent attention.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ANROWS, Padma Raman PSM, says all levels of Government should respond to the unmet needs of children and young people with disability through meaningful and practical solutions.

“Children’s access to disability and domestic and family violence support must not rely on their family and practitioners’ ability to continually negotiate barriers on their behalf,” says Ms Raman.

“Support in principle alone is not enough. Concrete, fit-for-purpose strategies are essential for children and young people with disability, and their families.”

Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth, says tackling family, domestic and sexual violence is a priority of the Federal Government.

She adds that in October the Government will release the next National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children that will directly address the issues found in this study.