Citation

Donagh B. Child Abuse Rev. 2020; 29(4): 387-391.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/car.2649

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic has proven to be very unsettling for children, young people and their families. Academics have begun to document the impact that this virus, and the restrictions imposed by lockdown, are having on those experiencing DVA. Guidance to 'stay at home' and the notion of 'social distancing' did not instil a sense of safety and reassurance for all. These restrictions have resulted in major concerns around the increased risk of harm for those living in abusive households globally (Bradbury‐Jones and Isham, 2020; Campbell, 2020; Usher et al., 2020). These measures saw a 25 per cent increase in calls to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Kelly and Morgan, 2020) and escalations in abuse resulting in increased demand on DVA services (Grierson, 2020; Women's Aid, 2020). Although an increase in referrals to local specialist DVA services had been expected, this has not been happening for children and young people. These services have seen significant decreases in the number of referrals during lockdown.

Children and young people continue to tell practitioners that school is often one of the only safe places they have, so when schools began to close this caused great concern. Not only were young people losing an escape from abuse at home, they were also losing opportunities to disclose what was happening. The closure of youth clubs and sports clubs further reduced opportunities for children and young people to ask for help. For DVA services, schools are one of the main referral sources. Children and young people are often overlooked, with the focus being on the parent/carer who is seen as the primary victim. A lack of victim status awarded to young people experiencing DVA in the home means that they are hidden from support services; identification was already an issue before the pandemic. The impact of COVID‐19 has meant children and young people experiencing abuse have gone from being unnoticed to invisible...

Language: en