Domestic violence is often viewed as an adult issue and the facts that support this belief are overwhelming. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of physical violence by an intimate partner during their life.
Those statistics cannot be ignored, but often there are unseen victims who have also experienced the dangers of living in a home with intimate partner violence. Attached to those victims are children who are at risk of getting caught in the middle of physical violence. Those children could develop chronic issues if they do not receive help processing what they have witnessed.
Children do not have the means to access resources in the same way that adults do. They rely on their parent or guardian to provide safety, basic resources, and stability. A home with domestic violence is anything but safe and stable. Children might not speak out against the abusive adult for fear of making things worse, because they love both adults, and do not want to pick sides.
