Ms Margaret Martin:

Regarding the refuge services that are available, there is very often a support worker for the woman and then a support worker for the children, so children will have a support worker working with them while they are in a refuge. The difficulty, as I outlined, is that there is very often a shortage of space and that refuges are turning away significantly more women and children than they are accommodating. We had a recent consultation with women on family law, and one concern from mothers that came up consistently was the lack of therapy and support for their children and the fact that where it is available it is costly and that very often the therapist does not really understand the impact of domestic violence. It is a very particular situation and understanding its dynamics and the level of threat under which women sometimes struggle is really important to understanding how to support these women and their children.

There will be children who are abused by their mothers. This is not something people come to us about. Most of our calls come from women themselves and about 3% are from men. Sometimes they are fathers; a lot of the time they are women's supports, perhaps a new partner, etc.