Veronica Oakeshott, Head of External Affairs at Women’s Aid, comments:  

“Women’s Aid welcomes the Victim’s and Courts Bill receiving Royal Assent. This legislation makes some important changes that survivors of domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) have long called for.   

“We know from our work with survivors that many women and children have been let down by the complex criminal justice system which, for too long, has failed to recognise and prioritise their needs. This is especially the case for marginalised survivors, who face significant barriers to seeking justice and further prejudice in the systems intended to bring them justice. The failures have been so extensive and the lack of understanding of the complexities are so profound, that less than 1 in 5 women feel able to report their experiences to the police.  

“The government has committed to halving violence against women and girls in the next decade and this Bill is promising significant improvements. We are pleased to see that victims and bereaved families will now have longer to challenge unduly lenient sentences, giving grieving families the opportunity to make decisions without undue pressure. We are also pleased to see that non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) will no longer be exploited to cover up criminal conduct.  

“We also welcome new limitations to parental responsibility for perpetrators, though this needs to go further. Parents who perpetrate violence against women and children pose a clear and significant risk of harm to their children in multiple forms. It is a narrow and insufficient approach to treat child sexual offences as the only threshold for restricting parental responsibility. We are looking forward to new laws committed to by the Government in October that remove the presumption of support for parental contact where there is domestic abuse and the child does not want to see a parent, or it is unsafe for them to do so. We know from our years of research on child homicides, that without this change children will continue to die as a result of unsafe contact.  

“Improvements for survivors who are in the justice system or considering reporting to the police, are not just about legislation but also about the resourcing of high-quality specialist services. The specialist organisations that support victims through complex criminal proceedings continue to face a funding crisis. We urge the Government to prioritise work planned to reform commissioning practices, so specialist services receive the funding urgently needed.” 

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Sarah Davidge, Head of Membership, Research and Evaluation at Women’s Aid, comments: 

 “The new data from the Domestic Homicide project, which for the first time, has identified a teenage girl dying of suicide as a result of domestic abuse, is incredibly disturbing.  

“Domestic abuse has a devastating impact on the mental health and wellbeing of survivors, and it is heartbreaking to see that this heinous crime is impacting a growing number of young women and girls. Sadly, young men and boys are increasingly exposed to violent and misogynistic content online, which further feeds into the harmful behaviours we know underpin violence against women and girls (VAWG). We know from our own research that those who have viewed such content are five times more likely to view hurting someone physically as acceptable if you say sorry afterwards. We also know that worrying behaviours indicative of controlling behaviour, including ‘love bombing’, stalking and the giving of unwanted gifts, are normalised by those who have been exposed to harmful content online.   

“We must do more to ensure that young people have access to reliable and trustworthy information about what constitutes a healthy relationship that is rooted in consent and mutual respect. We must also ensure that survivors are being heard and helped before they feel like it is too late. Every life lost is preventable and we owe it to the families of these girls and women to do better.” 

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Ellie Daniel, Head of Policy and Survivor Services, comments:  

“We welcome the proposed amendment to the Crime & Policing bill to treat all suicides where there is a history of domestic abuse as a potential homicide. Too many women who have been subjected to devastating abuse, including coercive and controlling behaviour, by a current or former partner have been denied justice following suicide, because their death was not considered to be directly at the hands of their perpetrator. We owe these women and their grieving families more. More understanding of the insidious nature of domestic abuse, more joined up responses to believe and support women and children; and more justice for those victims who so tragically have their lives taken.” 

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This week, The Guardian published an investigation which revealed that the number of suicides linked to domestic abuse was being vastly underreported, with up to 1,500 victims each year.

Sarah Davidge, Head of Membership, Research and Evaluation at Women’s Aid, comments:  

Domestic abuse has a devastating impact on the mental health and wellbeing of survivors. These new findings are a shocking insight into the reality for so many families who are left bereaved of mothers, daughters and sisters as a result of domestic abuse, but are too often denied justice because their death was not considered to be directly at the hands of their perpetrator.   

We know from The Domestic Homicide project, that the majority of Suspected Victim Suicides after Domestic Abuse victims (SVSDA) from an intimate partner were also identified as having a history of coercive and controlling behaviour within these relationships. The figures today show that the extent of the official figures significantly underpresent the reality behind the impact of domestic abuse. 

It is imperative that understanding of the nature and impact of coercive and controlling behaviour is improved across all agencies that come into contact with survivors, through training like that offered by Women’s Aid.  

With cases against perpetrators all too often dropped after death by suicide, grieving families are failed by the justice system and perpetrators do not face justice. 

We must do better to protect women and children from their abusers and to help them believe their voices will be heard, before they feel like it is too late.  

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Sarah Davidge, Head of Membership, Research and Evaluation at Women’s Aid, comments: 

This week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), published new figures on domestic abuse. The publication included its analysis of the abuse scales as recommended by the University of Bristol and Women’s Aid, with the aim of providing a better national picture of the prevalence of domestic abuse and to better contextualise the headline prevalence measure which showed that an estimated 2.2 million women and 1.5 million men have experienced domestic abuse in the past year. 

After decades of supporting and working with survivors, we are acutely aware of the challenges that are presented when it comes to measuring the prevalence of this heinous crime. We know that countless survivors will not report their experiences to the police – due to a lack of trust in policing, or feelings of shame – meaning that police data is severely limited. The Office for National Statistics collates domestic abuse data through its Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), which is based on a household survey and does not depend on reporting to the police. This data comes with its own limitations and underplays the gender asymmetry that we know exists in domestic abuse.  

The aim of the abuse scales released this week is to group together different types of victims that experience domestic abuse based on the abusive behaviours and their impacts. For example, the abuse scales show that women experienced significantly higher rates of domestic abuse in Clusters 2 and 3 (which indicate medium and higher numbers of abusive behaviours and impacts) than men. For partner abuse specifically, women were over three times as likely to experience higher numbers of abusive behaviours and impacts – 4.1% of women were grouped as experiencing partner abuse recorded as Cluster 3 compared to 1.3% of men. 

Despite this step forward, this data breakdown still has significant limitations – for example, the scales will only apply to the experiences of abuse from the age of 16, ignoring the experiences of children and young people.  

Whilst the ONS questions ask respondents whether they have experienced domestic abuse in the past year, they do not ask about the impact of this for the same period. The abuse scales instead measure the impact of abuse experienced by victims since the age of 16. It is therefore not possible to differentiate between when the abuse occurred and when these impacts were felt. This means we cannot know whether these impacts are recent, ongoing, or date back many years. We know from our work with survivors that many women experience long-term impacts from domestic abuse, including economic, along with many experiencing post-separation abuse, sometimes for a significant length of time.  

Additionally, whilst the abuse scales account for the number of different abusive behaviours a victim experienced, the frequency of experiencing the same behaviour multiple times is not measured by the survey, apart from for physical abuse. The scales do not make any assessment or comparison of the severity of behaviours or impacts; however, we know that the severity of domestic abuse disproportionately impacts women. The overwhelming majority of domestic homicide victims are female (65.4% or 231 victims) and most perpetrators are male (224 out of 231; 96.97%).1 

The ONS is still finalising the abuse scales methodology as part of its work to redevelop domestic abuse statistics. We urge the ONS to accept all of the recommendations made by the University of Bristol and partners including Women’s Aid, Respect and the College of Policing, and we call on the government to use the abuse scales for a more accurate and detailed measurement of the prevalence of domestic abuse. For too long, domestic abuse has been a crime that hid in plain sight, and it is only by accurately measuring it, and it’s devastating impact, that we can hope to eradicate it once and for all.” 

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Domestic Abuse Act 2021

Campaigning by survivors, activists and Women’s Aid secured many vital changes to the Act. A key change being that children were recognised as “victims in their own right”, meaning children are survivors, rather than just witnesses of abuse.

No Woman Turned Away

The No Woman Turned Away project supports women and their children fleeing domestic abuse, who face barriers when trying to access a safe refuge. 

A team of specialist domestic abuse practitioners responds to referrals from VAWG organisations and offer personalised support to survivors of domestic abuse in their search for a safe space to live. This includes refuge searches and liaising with other professionals.

Family Justice

Women’s Aid has been campaigning tirelessly for over 20 years to ensure that children’s safety is prioritised in the family courts. Publishing reports and running campaigns to highlight the failings of the justice system in protecting children. 

Child First

Our Child First campaign started in 2016 and calls on the government and all family courts agencies to make the family court process safer for women and children survivors of domestic abuse. We want an end to avoidable child deaths as a result of unsafe child contact with dangerous perpetrators of domestic abuse. 

Hear Them or Grieve Them campaign 

In 2016 we published our Nineteen Child Homicides report and nearly a decade on we published a second report: Nineteen More Child Homicides. This research found that in the last 30 years, 67 children have been killed by a parent who was also a perpetrator of domestic abuse, in circumstances relating to unsafe child contact. Our ‘Hear Them or Grieve Them’ campaign shines a light on the lost lives of these children and asks the government to hear children’s voices and protect them from unsafe family court practices. 

Presumption of parental involvement

After a decade-long campaign by Women’s Aid, our survivor ambassador Claire Throssell MBE, and countless survivors, are delighted the government has finally made the historic decision to repeal the legal presumption of parental involvement. This is a major campaign win which will help save lives and gets us one step closer on our mission to keep women and children safe. Now we’ve got commitment to changed the law, we’re calling for a whole-system approach to centre children’s voices in the courts, and beyond. 

The Monster Who Came To Tea 

In 2025 Women’s Aid launched a sobering children’s book the ‘Monster Who Came to Tea’ calling on the Government to improve  government funding does not reflect the reality of domestic abuse, leaving vital services struggling to meet the needs of women and their children without any dedicated funding. 

Find out more

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Yesterday (October 21st), the national domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid and creative agency Hijinks, held a choir performance outside Parliament, heralding the momentous Ministry of Justice decision to have the legal presumption of parental involvement removed from child contact cases in family courts. The repeal follows a dedicated, decade-long campaign by Women’s Aid, survivor ambassador Claire Throssell MBE, and many other survivors and sector partners, marking a major campaign win and a significant milestone on the road to keeping women and children safe.   

The decision to remove the presumption comes after the Government’s own Harm Panel found that it was not fit for purpose and recommended that an ‘urgent’ review be conducted to address it, back in 2020. Today’s long-awaited decision has ushered in a new era of hope for countless women and children who historically had the courts system weaponised by perpetrators as a means of continuing abuse. It also marks a significant shift in the ‘pro-contact’ culture that has, for so long, dominated family courts, and placed the ‘rights’ of abusive fathers over the safety and wellbeing of children.  

Today’s event is especially poignant, as it coincides with the anniversaries of the deaths of Jack and Paul, beloved sons to Claire Throssell MBE, Women’s Aid survivor ambassador, whose deaths could have been prevented.  In 2014, Jack, 12, and Paul, 9, were both killed by their father, despite Claire’s warnings that he was a danger to them. Paul died on 22ndOctober 2014, and Jack on the 27th October 2014. Claire has since campaigned tirelessly with Women’s Aid to stop unsafe child contact with dangerous perpetrators of domestic abuse.  

Despite today’s long-awaited and warmly welcomed decision, we must never forget Jack and Paul, as well as the many children who have been killed because of unsafe family court practices. In a bid to shine a light on their stories and to ensure that the culture in courts changes for good, Women’s Aid brought a 19-child choir to Parliament.  The choir represented the 19 preventable child homicides documented in the recent 19 More Child Homicides report, which found that in the last 30 years, 67 children have been killed by a parent who was also a perpetrator of domestic abuse, in circumstances relating to unsafe child contact. In their memory, Women’s Aid is asking government to ‘hear the children’.  

The performance began with the choir of children singing together, gradually fading until only one child’s voice remained – symbolising how children’s voices and experiences are so often silenced in the family courts. The event will be made into a short film to be published later this week to shine a spotlight on the often-unheard children’s experiences of domestic abuse, including coercive control, and calling on government, family courts and statutory agencies to prioritise the safety of children in child contact cases to save lives.   

Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, comments:   

“Today’s event was a poignant, and visceral, reminder of the very real danger that the ‘pro-contact’ culture in family courts poses to the lives of children and their mothers. Time and again survivors have told us of their harrowing family courts experiences, which allow the perpetrator of abuse to carry on tormenting survivors and their children – and finally, we are seeing some real and significant change take place. The government has made a momentous decision to repeal the presumption of contact – a vital step that will usher in a time of change and will see the safety and wellbeing of children prioritised. 

“For years, we and our survivor ambassador, Claire Throssell MBE, campaigned to have the presumption of contact removed. We succeeded. Now, we will continue applying pressure on the courts to maximise the impact of this monumental decision, by calling for legislation to be brought urgently to enact this critical change – women and children simply cannot wait. We are also calling for specialist domestic and sexual abuse training to be mandated for judges, in recognition of the fact that years of pro-contact culture will take time and education to reverse, and to ensure that preventable mistakes are avoided and both women and child survivors are kept safe.” 

Claire Throssell, MBE, survivor ambassador of Women’s Aid, comments: 

“For almost a decade, Women’s Aid and I have worked together, campaigning to change the family courts and improve laws, to ensure that children at risk of further harm from abusive parents have a brighter, safer future, free from fear and oppression. Every child deserves to be heard, seen, supported, and believed; to have a childhood and to live.  

“Successive governments have failed to protect children, standing by an outdated presumption that it is in a child’s best interests to have contact with both their parents, even when there have been allegations of domestic abuse.  We have campaigned tirelessly to have this presumption removed from the family law and practice, because until this narrative changes, more children, like Jack and Paul, will continue to die.  

“Although today’s announcement can never bring back Jack and Paul it will give children further protection against preventable harm in their lives. No child should have to hold out a hand for help in darkness to a stranger and say that they have been hurt by someone who should love and protect them most. No parents should have to hold their children as they die, from the abuse of a perpetrator, as I did a decade ago.” 

Justice Minister, Baroness Levitt KC, said:  

“The horrors of domestic abuse can scar a child for life. It is apparent from our research that the presumption of parental involvement can, in some courts, lead to contact being ordered even in cases where there has been domestic abuse. Our priority must always be children’s welfare. Being a parent is a privilege not a right: the only right which matters is a child’s right to safety and this government is determined to ensure that that is at the heart of every decision made about each and every child. 

“Repealing the presumption is a key part of our package of family court reforms which will protect children.  

“I want to thank Claire Throssell who, despite the unimaginable loss of her sons Jack and Paul, has campaigned tirelessly to ensure no child goes to bed frightened. She is an inspiration.”   

Notes to editors 

What is the legal presumption?  

The ‘presumption of parental involvement’ was introduced into law in 2014. It means that, in a contact case between separated parents in the family courts, the court must presume that the continued involvement of both parents in their child’s life is in the child’s best interests.  

Why are you campaigning for its removal?  

Leading domestic abuse and legal charities, as well as countless survivors, have long campaigned to have the legal presumption of child contact removed. It is the only presumption about what furthers a child’s welfare in family court. It dilutes the court’s focus on the welfare of the child because it places the court in a position where they must presume involvement of a parent is in the child’s best interests unless this can be shown otherwise. With an estimated 60% of cases in the family courts involving domestic abuse, the presumption feeds the pro-contact culture withing the court. This can be extremely dangerous and has led to the preventable deaths of children, as found in our recent ‘19 Child More Homicides’ report. 

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Fatal Failures – New Report Reveals 19 More Avoidable Child Homicides 

• Published today, Women’s Aid’s new report reveals that over the last nine years, 19 children have been killed by a parent who was also a perpetrator of domestic abuse, in circumstances relating to unsafe child contact.

• Each of these tragic deaths was avoidable, if our family justice system and statutory services prioritised the safety of children over the perpetrator.

• The report went on to find there has been a 50% increase in number of families these deaths occurred in, compared to the previous 10 years.

• The children’s ages at the time of their death ranged from just over three weeks old to 11 years old.

• 17 of the 18 perpetrators were men, and 15 out of these 17 men were the fathers to the children that were killed.

• Despite overwhelming evidence, and the government’s own recommendations set out in the Harm Panel report five years ago, lack of political and professional will has halted any attempts to remove the presumption of contact and improve the safety of women and children in the family justice system.

Today, Women’s Aid have published the third of a series of harrowing reports, revealing 67 children have been killed by a parent who was also a perpetrator of domestic abuse, in circumstances relating to child contact, over the last 30 years.  

Women’s Aid’s new Nineteen More Child Homicides report found that 18 families were impacted by this devastating crime between 2015 and 2024, a 50% increase on the previous decade. There was a total of 28 deaths in these families, with 19 children, 3 mothers, 2 dogs.  

Nineteen More Child Homicides shows the urgent need for the family justice system to recognise diverse children’s experiences of domestic abuse, including coercive control, and to centre children’s voices in child contact cases.  

Systemic problems in the family courts, including those around unsafe contact between children and perpetrators of domestic abuse, are well documented. Five years ago this week, the Ministry of Justice published the Harm Panel report, which found that the family courts were failing to protect children and called for urgent reform to ensure the safety of survivors. 

Despite all the evidence, half a decade on, a lack of political and judicial will has haltered progress, with the government, statutory agencies, and family court professionals failing to implement many of the lifesaving recommendations in the Harm Panel Report. 

This new report highlights how a widespread lack of professional understanding around patterns of coercive control, a constant minimisation of risk, and significant over optimism that perpetrators of abuse can still be “good enough” fathers, led to children killed by known perpetrators of domestic abuse.  

A ‘pro-contact culture’ is costing children’s lives, and the government must repeal the presumption of parental involvement in urgent legislation to prevent children from paying the price for a lack of action. 

Over the last 30 years, Women’s Aid’s research reveals that a total of 67 children have been killed by abusers in circumstance relating to contact. How many more children will we have to report and grieve before the government, statutory agencies and family court professionals are held to account for failing to keep children safe?

Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said: 

“When Women’s Aid published the original Twenty-Nine Child Homicides report in 2004, we never imagined that two decades on, we would have to produce a further two reports documenting avoidable losses. Every single one of the deaths in this new report, as well as those in our previous ones, were preventable but a lack of action to reform an institution that is not fit for purpose ultimately let these children, and their families, down. Every case is one too many. 

This new report exposes the life-threatening consequences of not acting on well-document risks of failing to address the pro-contact culture and must be used to finally drive long overdue change of the family courts response to child survivors. We must prioritise the safety of children over an archaic presumption and put an end to any more avoidable child deaths.” 

Claire Throssell MBE, Women’s Aid Survivor Ambassador, said:  

“Ten years ago, Women’s Aid reached out their hand to me after their research found that 19 children were killed after unsafe, court ordered, contact with parents who were known perpetrators of domestic abuse. Two of those children were my precious sons, Jack and Paul.  

The fact that 10 years on, more children have been killed, and the presumption of contact has not been removed legislatively or culturally is shameful and proof that successive governments have failed to protect children at risk of harm from their parents.  

I call on the Ministry of Justice to listen to the 108,000 voices in the Child First petition handed into Downing Street by myself and Women’s Aid in November. I ask them to remember the voice of a dying boy in the darkness who told as many people as he could what had happened at the hands of his father but was ignored. 29 children in the first report, 19 in the second, and 19 in the third. These deaths were heartbreakingly preventable, and action needs to be taken to stop anymore avoidable deaths.”

Notes to Editor: 

You can read the full Nineteen More Child Homicides report here. 

You can read the previous Nineteen Child Homicides report (2016) here. 

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