Poverty, social inequality and domestic abuse: The impact on children

BASW UK and The University of Edinburgh have published research using data from a survey of 5000 children living in Scotland, examining how poverty and other factors impact on mums experiencing domestic violence and the effects on their children. The research also looked at the involvement of police and social services in such situations.

Key Findings include: 

• The poorest mums were most likely to experience domestic abuse
• Younger mums were more likely to report domestic abuse
• Younger mums who were the poorest reported the highest levels of abuse
• Children of mums who had experienced domestic abuse generally had poorer scores on different measures of social and emotional development.

Both the size of the evidence base, and the very specific implications for social work practice make this a highly significant piece of research.