Blacktown Women's and Girls' Health Centre says NO to domestic violence!    

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS OVERWHELMINGLY PERPETRATED BY MEN AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN. MOST STUDIES INDICATE THAT 90-95% OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS ARE WOMEN, PERPETRATORS BEING MALE PARTNERS OR EX-PARTNERS 

Violence against women is a fundamental breach of human rights, and is the most pervasive form of violence perpetrated against women in Australia.

Domestic violence cannot be excused or justified under any circumstances. It is wrong and all victims need compassionate and highly responsive support and all perpetrators much be held accountable for their violence.

Blacktown Women's and Girls' Health Centre recognises that:

Any woman can become a victim of domestic violence - violence knows no geopgraphical, socio-economical, age, ability, cultural or religious boundaries

Over their lifetime, domestic violence affects at least one in three Australian women

Almost one in four children in Australia have witnessed violence against their mother or stepmother

What is domestic violence?

Domestic violence is a pattern of abuse and control perpetrated against a partner or former partner and includes

Physical abuse perpetrated against a victim and includes but is not limited to punching, pushing, kicking, slapping, child abuse, hair pulling, use of weapons, destruction of property, being locked out of or imprisoned in house/ property, and harm to pets in front of victims. 

Sexual abuse including rape, being forced to perform sexual act including oral sex against will, being forced to view pornographic material, coercing someone to have sex without protecting them against pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted infections.

Spiritual abuse includes denying people the right to participate in religious ceremonies or celebrations or accessing local religious community activities. It could also include denying people the ability to practice their religion.

Psychological abuse includes threats of violence, intimidation, control, verbal and emotional abuse including put downs and blaming; stripping someone of their self worth and generally promoting an environment of fearfulness.  

Social abuse includes controlling who a person sees, when they see them and often results in people being isolated from all social and family networks.   

Financial abuse includes controlling all finances. Not allowing a person to have any disposable income or access to bank accounts. If a women works requiring her wage to be used for household expenses whilst the partners wage is used for only their needs or wants.   

Domestic Violence affects kids too!

Children live in a small world made up of their bed, their friends, their family, their home. Last year 1 in every 54 Australian children aged 0-4 spent time in a refuge as a result of domestic violence. Children have the right to live safely in their own home.

Children are traumatised when they see someone they love being harmed. They are also at risk of becoming victims and/or abusers of violence. A child's right to safety is paramount and children are particularly vulnerable in domestic violence contexts due to their dependence on adults to care for them. Even if children show little or no signs of being affected that they still are and children are aware even if they can't put it into words.

There has been an increasing amount of research on the effect of domestic violence on children. Overwhelmingly the research has concluded that witnessing or experiencing domestic violence has a negative effect on a child's development. In NSW it is classified as a notifiable offence and legislation requires workers who are aware of children witnessing or experiencing domestic violence to make a ‘risk of harm' report to DoCS. The impact on children should never be minimised. Regardless of age children are always affected whether they experience or witness violence or abuse in the home.

Children may experience domestic violence in one of the following ways:

• Being targets of violence and abuse themselves
• Being witnesses,
• Being aware of domesic violence behaviour,
• Trying to intervene or seek help.

Children will be affected in various ways if exposed to domestic violence. All children will respond differently however some of the effects that domestic violence may have on children are:

• Believing they are the cause of the violence 
• Signs of poor health and development
• Physical complaints like headaches and stomach aches
• Bad sleeping patterns
• Being reactive to their environment
• Affected by emotional deprivation
• Ongoing fear
• Frequent illness
• Development of behavioural and social struggles, lack confidence
• Belief that the violence is their fault
• Struggles at school
• Difficulty in concentrating, social relationships, anxiety and withdrawal.
• More responsibility than is normally required of a child as the mother struggles to cope.

Some of the long term consequences of witnessing/experiencing violence could be

• A belief that using violence and control is an effective problem solving strategy, that it is ‘normal'
• Reinforcement of negative sex role models
• Finding it difficult to interact socially with other children
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• An interruption of the bonding attachment process between child and caregiver

IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS PLEASE CALL:

POLICE      000

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LINE:     1800 65 64 63

LIFE LINE:          131 114

RAPE CRISIS         9819 6565