New research breakthrough in evidence on supporting child victims of domestic abuse

Landmark pilots evaluating domestic abuse recovery programmes have been given the green light for full-scale trials following early signs of success in research.

With the government’s new Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy imminent, new research from Foundations, the national What Works Centre for Children and Families, has suggested that now is a pivotal moment in closing the long-standing evidence gap on how best to support children recovering from domestic abuse.

An estimated one in five children in the UK are affected by domestic abuse, a key driver of referrals into children’s social care. Its impact on children’s development, mental health and relationships can be profound and long-lasting, yet access to specialist support remains patchy, with just 29% of victim-survivors able to secure help for their children.

The What Works Centre has today published the first results from its five-year REACH Plan to identify effective approaches to preventing domestic abuse and supporting child victims, including by funding service delivery to enable two pioneering randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Two pioneering randomised controlled trial (RCT) pilots showing that it is possible to “ethically evaluate the impact of domestic abuse services for children and young people using RCT methods, setting a precedent for future work.”

Pilot evaluations of Bounce Back 4 Kids (BB4K), run by PACT, and WeMatter, delivered by Victim Support, found early signs of meaningful benefits. Children taking part in WeMatter reported improved mental wellbeing and better ability to manage difficult emotions, describing the programme as a rare safe space to talk about their experiences. Families involved in BB4K saw improvements in children’s behaviour and stronger parent–child relationships, alongside increased parental confidence.

Both services will now move forward to full-scale RCTs — the first of their kind in the UK — marking a major step forward in building an evidence base for supporting child victims.

Natausha van Vliet, Chief Executive of PACT, which runs one of the programmes progressing to a full evaluation said she was “thrilled” to see ground-breaking research begin to close the evidence gap in supporting children who have experienced domestic abuse.

“Bounce Back 4 Kids was created as we recognised the lack of provision for children to recover from the trauma of domestic abuse. By providing a safe, trauma-informed environment, we enable children and their victim-survivor parent to rebuild and strengthen relationships while equipping families with tools to move forward and thrive.

“Feedback from families has always been positive but it is incredibly encouraging to see more robust early evidence of its positive impact through this pilot. We look forward to continuing to work with Foundations and others to build the evidence base and give children and parents healing from domestic abuse the best possible chance to heal and thrive.”

However, the REACH report also highlights significant structural challenges: domestic abuse services are under-resourced, with inconsistent funding and limited capacity to engage in research. “By and for” organisations, particularly crucial for minoritised communities, face specific barriers to evaluation.

Johanna Parks, Director of Operations, Service Design and Innovation at Victim Support said the programme ‘WeMatter’ was developed to tackle a “postcode lottery of support” for children and young people affected by domestic abuse.

“Too often, those not deemed ‘high risk’ face long waits or struggle to access services at all. The pilot evaluation indicates that WeMatter provides meaningful benefits for children, providing a safe, structured space for recovery and improving mental wellbeing.”

Foundations says the next phase of REACH will focus on generating evidence on what works for practitioners across children’s social care, and on removing obstacles to evaluation so more services can demonstrate their impact.

Dr Jo Casebourne, Chief Executive of Foundations, said the findings mark a turning point in finding out what works for children experiencing domestic abuse.

“Despite the work of hard-pressed domestic abuse services, we know support remains patchy, especially for child-victims, and there are unacceptable gaps in the evidence base about the impact of services on children and families.

“Now, for the first time, we can say with confidence that we can ethically and robustly research the impact of services on children's outcomes. The move to take two recovery services to full-scale evaluations – the first of their kind in the UK - is a pivotal moment in our efforts to help children and families overcome the effects of domestic abuse.

“But we must learn the lessons of our report that greater focus is needed on capacity building in stretched services to support them through evaluation. Crucially, more needs to be done to address the barriers faced by grassroots and ‘by and for’ organisations to taking part in this kind of research.’

“The forthcoming VAWG strategy offers a critical window of opportunity. Our ambition is for children to be able to access evidence-based support whenever it is needed, from early intervention to recovery. To make this happen requires a greater focus on evidence generation, and investment in delivery to support evaluation. In REACH’s next phase, we’ll partner with services, victim survivors, evaluators and funders on this.”

Children and Families Minister Josh MacAlister added that tackling domestic abuse and violence against women and girls is a” priority for this Government.”

“This is an important part of our ongoing evaluation of support services for child victims of domestic abuse, and we’re already seeing early indications that these programmes are making a real difference, making sure every child affected by domestic abuse can access support that we know works.

“Our manifesto set out our commitment to reduce violence against women and girls by 50% within a decade and we will be publishing our cross government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy shortly which will develop a whole system response to improve support for victims of domestic abuse, including children.”