Our new paper: brave mothers reported #children experienced a wide range of psychological, emotional and physical impacts during #familylaw proceedings, including anxiety, depression, #trauma responses, suicidal thoughts and attempts, eating disorders & more www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/f...
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Family courts must do more to hear children's voices, study says
Researchers say children's rights and wellbeing must be placed at the heart of family court proceedingsChildren involved in private family law proceedings in England can experience serious harm to the...
![81. Mothers who have lost the care of their children as a result of custody cases are struggling to come to terms with the loss. They face systematic challenges in accessing justice, exacerbated by legal aid cuts, court biases, and a failure to prioritize child safety in cases involving domestic abuse. The 2013 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act removed legal aid from most private family law cases, forcing many parents, especially mothers, to represent themselves. By 2024 over half of mothers in custody disputes appeared in court without a lawyer[1], and by 2017, 21,852 parents applied for private law child arrangement cases without legal representation—a 134% increase from 2011[2]. This lack of legal support disproportionately affects lower-income mothers. The result is often prolonged cases, psychological distress, denial of justice and a growing family court backlog, which stood at over100,000 children as of 2013[3]. The lack of justice has forced many mothers to escape the UK to jurisdictions not covered by the Hague Convention on Child Abductions.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vr5afgrievbdwcigv6qhhcww/bafkreiglfsggvmifj7n6zedqe423w7gqvlzt3ecyyacb2kep24lfwfepoa)
![44. The UK government’s Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy emphasizes prevention, previously allocating £6.6 million over three years (2022-2025) to this end. However, a significant challenge persists including: Framing violence against women and girls predominantly as a criminal justice issue, focusing on punishing offenders rather than investing adequately in the systemic and societal changes required to address root causes. Prevention efforts remain underfunded, while the implementation of protective measures, victim compensation, and rehabilitation is weak. This punitive approach, coupled with poor enforcement of court judgments and protection orders fosters a sense of impunity for perpetrators, undermining progress.
45. Specialist services for girls and young women under 25, who face disproportionate rates of domestic abuse, are critical yet insufficient. Statutory agencies are positioned to identify and intervene early, but without robust investment, many women at risk are left without support, leading to trauma, school exclusion, or entanglement in the criminal justice system. Efforts to shift harmful social norms, particularly among boys and men, such as Scotland’s Equally Safe strategy, which aims to ensure that young people develop mutually respectful, responsible and confident relationships[1] are to be commended. However, the £6.6 million investment in such policies pales against the scale of need (3.5 million boys) and the scale of sexual and gender-based violence.
[35 NSPCC, Child sexual abuse: statistics briefing.
[36] Adrienne Barnett, Domestic abuse and private law cases: A literature Review, Ministry of Justice, 2020.
[37] https://rapecrisis.org.uk/get-informed/breaking-point/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.
[38] https://www.executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk/articles/truth-recovery-design-panel.
[39] https://ombudsman.ie/en/publi…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vr5afgrievbdwcigv6qhhcww/bafkreid5lfj2cezchuk4uyyw2jtji3nnfejfcotnxsg22r5mc2ag2s5rpq)
![57. Women and girls with disabilities in the UK are particularly vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence, discrimination, and abuse, yet the response from authorities is often inadequate. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities raised concerns in 2017, stating that the rights of women and girls with disabilities have not been systematically integrated into gender equality and disability agendas, with a lack of data and measures addressing the compounded effects of multiple and intersectional discrimination[1]. Women and girls with psychosocial disabilities face significant obstacles when attempting to access justice. The prevalent practice of restricting legal capacity makes it difficult for these women to initiate or participate in legal proceedings, and their testimonies are often met with skepticism/ Service providers also tend to be slow in responding to financial abuse, further exacerbating their vulnerability.[2]
[1] Ibid.
[2] https://www.wbg.org.uk/article/cuts-to-social-security-for-disabled-women/.
r stereotypes.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vr5afgrievbdwcigv6qhhcww/bafkreigtndenq3eep3bsgm2klpj53c7j46k243sdw5fkfdqpditblp44aq)
