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Children Regularly Experience A Sense Of Total Powerlessness, Wishing They ...


Children regularly experience a sense of total powerlessness, wishing they could assist their mother, which may produce harm to their long-term emotional wellbeing.
This may later cause revenge fantasies, but at the time often leads them to have an overpowering need to stay in the room. (Shipway 2004: 116).
It is not unusual for the child or young person to blame themselves for what is happening to their mother, particularly as the partner may have used their behaviour as a reason for losing his temper. (Ibid).
Young people sometimes fear social services will remove them from the home if it is known violence and abuse exists.
Gaudoin (2001:27) provided evidence confirming that two-thirds of the residents in refuges are children. However, this does not account for the hundreds who are afraid to report violence. The threat of leaving their family home, however unstable, is often not well received by children, and many would rather put up with domestic violence than remove themselves from it.
Domestic Violence in the Black community
Domestic violence in the black community has been recognised as being less likely to be reported mainly because women and young people do not wish to threaten the stability of their position within their community. Women from African Caribbean communities are less likely to report their experiences and therefore they experience prolonged abuse over a long, or sometimes indeterminate, time frame. One of the critical debates concerning domestic violence is the idea of ‘getting used' to a way of being treated and thus for it to become the norm within family life. An article written by a survivor of domestic violence said of her early years in Jamaica: ‘in my experience it was commonplace to hear of or even witness women/men being beaten by their spouses or partners in public view.' (Unknown author. http://www.2as1.net/articles/article.asp?id=49.). She comments of violence in the UK, saying that ‘particularly within the Black community, the fighting may not overspill onto the streets but it does occur, behind closed doors.'
Black communities in London are well established and people living within them rely on the social structure of their area. The idea of leaving the area to live in a refuge where they might not understand English speaking people so well is an intimidating prospect for many. Thus, some women who do not speak English might delay seeking help, finding the language a barrier between them and British speaking organisations. Interpreters can be used, but involving a third party in a woman's private life can be an off-putting idea. Furthermore, religious or cultural beliefs might forbid divorce, and religious community leaders mostly being men, only some speak out about domestic violence.


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