How do Children and Young People, who have lived with Domestic Violence, View, Understand and Experience the Idea of Home?

Abstract

There has been an increased interest regarding children and domestic violence. Research has sought to highlight the effects on children, and more recently there has been growing recognition that children are not passive witnesses within these situations and are actually victim/survivors in their own right (Sixsmith et al, 2015). This study has sought to contribute to existing knowledge and unearth further insight into children’s lives. This has been possible because the study has taken a distinctive approach, by channelling all of the investigation through the lens of home. There has also been additional emphasis on what constitutes resilience and agency in that context, and a concentration on the housing and welfare policy context underpinning the findings.
The research was conducted using qualitative interviews. Sixteen professionals from a range of services related to the subject area participated, as well as thirteen adult survivors who had all lived with domestic violence as children. These discussions illuminated the vast discrepancy between the accepted positive facets of home and how it is conversely experienced by children living with domestic violence. Crucially the research has also highlighted that children directly experience coercive control by perpetrators. This insight has then formed a basis of challenge to what resilience looks like and how agency is interpreted. It suggests that a quiet, studious, mature child is not always ‘doing alright’ but is potentially being frightened and controlled, and that the agency children display may well be an act of necessity in the absence of adult responsibility or intervention. The overall analysis of the policy context has identified a trend towards increased reliance on charitable support and a reduction in choices regarding necessities such as housing and food.
The research proposes that there needs to greater awareness of children’s direct experiences and appreciation of their status as victim/survivors. It concludes by recognising that further research through the lens of the home will provide further insight into how children’s lives are impacted by domestic violence both in the immediate and beyond.