Recognition

Image sourced by the research team from Unsplash. Artist: Blake Carpenter

There is a lack of recognition of children and young people’s experiences of family violence, which challenges young people’s ability to identify violence and seek help.

It can be difficult for children and young people to recognise family violence in homes where violence is normalised. Or, in other words, violence may not be apparent to some children and young people, for whom violence is part of the fabric of family life; the only family life that they know. Miss Chatterbox emphasised the importance of external information and support for young victim-survivors who can be profoundly impacted by the “manipulation, gaslighting... and coercive control” of family violence in a society where “parents know best.”

"My mum told me that I was being silly and selfish and I didn’t put my family first." – Miss Chatterbox

Children and young people experience exclusion from service systems that are not always able to recognise their unique and varied experiences of family violence.

"[family violence services] didn't know how to help because they don’t usually get people [like my sibling & I] experiencing violence from [a mother who] traditionally would be the ‘protective parent’. ...you basically have to be in an intimate partner violence situation to get any real help." - Ashley

"There should be more focus on people who don't have dependents with them." - Siena