About one in five children in the UK
has been exposed to domestic violence at home, NSPCC research has
suggested, and in many instances, they go to school the next day with
little or no support. One scheme is aiming to change this.
"I got severely beaten up, I didn't remember anything for three days," Jane says.
"I had bumps and lumps on my head like I've never seen - blood in my hair, in my ear. It was just awful.
"He'd seen me getting my hair pulled, to the point where I couldn't put my head back up.
"Out of all of the punches, and the bruising and all the torture, out of all of it, the worst part was the children seeing [what happened]."
It is in such instances that the scheme Operation Encompass aims to support children, by ensuring police communicate directly with schools to inform them that an incident of domestic abuse has happened in a child's home.
Police forces do share safeguarding information with other authorities, but often they go through social services rather than directly to schools.
Headteacher Lis Carney-Haworth, from Devon, devised the scheme after she was left in the dark about the home life of one of her pupils. The boy had been left to cope with the aftermath of a domestic violence incident without support.
Read the article here: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36516719
