The terrifying moment Grace was dragged into her house by a man she’d fled

It had been one year since *Grace and her children fled her violent ex-partner.

Comforted by the thought he did not know where their new house was in Sydney, she sat with her children on the front porch of her safe haven.

Then suddenly, her ex-partner came at Grace from behind, having broken into her home. He grabbed her and dragged her back into the house as she tried to hold on to the door frame.

By chance, Grace’s sister and partner arrived during the attack, and managed to pull her away just as she was about to be locked inside the house with her abuser. She was left with bruised legs, swollen forearms, a sore hip and cut fingers.

The offender was jailed for three years and four months in June, court documents show. But the innocent children who saw the horrific attack will likely suffer a lifelong sentence of trauma.

They are among the one-in-six young people who regularly experience at least two types of maltreatment in the family home, according to new findings from an Australia-wide study.

A new analysis of Griffith University research found children growing up in households affected by adult domestic violence were 30 times more likely to experience regular verbal and emotional abuse at home, and ten times more likely to endure physical abuse. They were also more likely to use violence at home themselves.

As part of the Adolescent Family Violence in Australia study, 5021 people aged 16-20 were asked questions about experiences of violence between other family members, of being maltreated directly by family members, and their own use of violence in the home.

Almost one third of participants reported having experienced one type of maltreatment “regularly” as a child, meaning at least once a month, and 16.7 per cent reported experiencing at least two types.

Maltreatment included physical and sexual abuse, verbal or emotional abuse, threats to harm or hurt someone close, threats to kill, non-fatal strangulation, property damage, and sexuality or gender identity-based abuse.

The most common type was childhood experiences of domestic violence, reported by 27.3 per cent of people who were maltreated, followed by verbal or emotional abuse at 17 per cent.

Girls and children with a disability were at a far greater risk of harm.

While the majority of Australian studies have focused on domestic abuse by caregivers against children, or non-domestic-violence forms of maltreatment towards children, the Griffith University study highlights the impact on children who specifically experienced domestic abuse between other family members.

“It’s still a relatively new and emerging space, and we really need more work to recognise that children growing up with domestic and family violence are victim-survivors, because it’s a lived experience of victimisation,” said lead researcher Professor Silke Meyer from Griffith University.

“It is not just witnessing or observing someone else’s behaviour, because it impacts the development, social and emotional development of children”.

Among the most significant findings of the research was that non-physical abuse experiences were the strongest predictors of children going on to use violence in the home.

“Children who experienced regular physical abuse were only 1.5 times more likely to start using violence in the home themselves, whereas children experiencing emotional, verbal abuse and/or growing up with domestic and family violence were 5.5 times more likely to use violence in the home themselves during adolescence,” Meyer said.

“A lot of young people in our study spoke about being called names, being called worthless. So children are significantly more likely to also experience that kind of behaviour if it’s also directed at the other parent or carer in the home – 30 times more likely”.

Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds recently told this masthead she also objects to the word “witnessing” when talking about children who grow up in homes with domestic violence, saying it “misunderstands and diminishes the impact”.

Meyer called for more training across the sector, from the child and family welfare space to schools, particularly on the impact of non-physical victimisation at home.

Elise Phillips, deputy chief executive of Domestic Violence NSW, said the research crucially recognised children as victim-survivors in their own right.

“We know that domestic and family violence is the biggest driver of youth homelessness. It also leaves children twice as likely to be diagnosed with a substance use disorder and can contribute to mental health concerns,” Phillips said

* Name has been changed for legal reasons

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) and the Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800) for people aged 5 to 25.

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