Increasing men's awareness of the effects on children exposed to family and domestic violence

Reducing violence against women and children is a global public health and human rights priority. In Australia, police deal with over 650 family and domestic violence matters each day, and every week one women is murdered by their current or former partner. This report details research undertaken in the Australian state of Tasmania, where police attended over 2000 family and domestic violence incidents between July 2014 and May 2015, and over 1,200 children were present at these incidents. These figures only reflect incidents attended by police and so the actual number of incidents is likely to be much higher. The consequences of childhood exposure to family and domestic violence are known to be cumulative and intergenerational, and even prenatal exposure can potentially have lifelong implications. The risks for children include behavioural disorders, poorer verbal abilities, higher levels of anxiety, increased risk of harmful substanc