Problems at home

‘Domestic abuse’ is the ‘abusive’ behaviour of a person (who is aged 16 or over) towards another person (who is aged 16 or over) and these persons are ‘personally connected’.  Personally connected means that the persons –

(a) are, or have been, married to each other;
(b) are, or have been, civil partners of each other;
(c) have agreed to marry one another (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);
(d) have entered into a civil partnership agreement (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);
(e) they are, or have been, in an intimate personal relationship with each other;
(f) they each have, or there has been a time when they each have had, a parental relationship in relation to the same child (see subsection (2));
(g) they are relatives – 

(i) the father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, grandmother, grandfather, grandson or granddaughter of that person or of that person's spouse, former spouse, civil partner or former civil partner, or 
(ii) the brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew or first cousin (whether of the full blood or of the half blood or by marriage or civil partnership) of that person or of that person's spouse, former spouse, civil partner or former civil partner; and

includes, in relation to a person who is cohabiting or has cohabited with another person, any person who would fall within paragraph (i) or (ii) if the parties were married to each other or were civil partners of each other.

Abusive behaviour is any of the following - 

(a) physical or sexual abuse;
(b) violent or threatening behaviour;
(c) controlling or coercive behaviour; 
(d) economic abuse;
(e) psychological, emotional or other abuse;

Domestic abuse can impact on a child who sees or hears or experiences the effects of the abuse of the victim by the abuser and as such can also seek help.  

Domestic abuse can occur amongst people of all ethnic backgrounds, sexualities, ages, disabilities, immigration status, religions or beliefs, and socio-economic backgrounds. 

Most incidents of domestic abuse will be a criminal offence which may be reported to your local police force by telephoning 101 or by online reporting.  In an emergency dial 999.

Please see the links in Related Information for organisations that offer advice and support. 

You can make a report to your local police who have specially trained officers who can offer help and support. You should report any assaults or acts of violence to the police so that action can be taken against your partner. The police have a responsibility to take positive action in reports of domestic violence.

The police are aware that speaking out about domestic violence can be very frightening, they will do their utmost to ensure that they provide all the help and support you require from the initial report through to any possible court proceedings.

For further help and information please see links to websites in Related Information.

Some other useful contact numbers are -

• Womens' Aid National Domestic Violence Helpline. Telephone: 0808 2000 247
• Refuge. Telephone: 0808 2000 247 (Refuge)
• Wales Domestic Abuse Helpline. Telephone: 0808 80 10 800 (Welsh Women's Aid)
• ManKind Initiative. Telephone: 01823 334 244 (ManKind)
• National Centre for Domestic Violence. Telephone: 0207 186 8270 (NCDV)

If you have been assaulted and want to report it to the police, even if you do not have any visible injuries, you should contact your local police force and report the incident.

If your partner or ex-partner has assaulted you, and you are 16 and over, this will be treated as a report of domestic violence; the police have a responsibility to take positive action to reports of domestic violence.

For more information and support, please see questions Q108, Q109 and Related Information. 

Sexting is the sending of sexually explicit messages and pictures via mobile phones. By way of example, sexting may involve the consensual sharing of an image between two adults or two similar aged children in a relationship, to instances of children being exploited, groomed, and bullied into sharing images, which in turn may be shared with peers or adults without their consent.

The law

It is an offence to possess/send/make/take/distribute/show indecent photos of children (person under the age of 18). That means that the child who takes the photo commits an offence as does any person who it gets sent to. This is the case regardless of whether they forward it on to other people and also applies to anyone who simply shows the image to other people.

However, the position of the National Police Chief's Council (NPCC) and the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP) with regards to the consensual sharing of an image between two children of a similar age in a relationship is that 'prosecution options are avoided, in particular the use of legislation that would attract sex offender registration'.

It is advised that the wider safeguarding issues are looked at rather than the criminal justice element. Placing a child on the sex offenders register could cause serious damage to their future. 

The images
Once an image is on the internet, it is potentially there forever. Even if the child sending the image had no intention for it to end up on there in many cases they do and this can be potentially very harmful to a child now and in the future. Many of the images end up in chat rooms used by paedophiles and sexual predators, even those that were not taken as a result of child exploitation or grooming.

Sexual exploitation
Paedophiles may try to frighten their victims into sending further indecent images of themselves by saying that unless the child continues, it will be reported to the police and the child will be arrested and face prosecution. Safeguarding the victim should be at the centre of any police involvement in not only these types of incidents but also non exploitation scenarios.

If you or anyone you know are being sexually exploited then contact your local police by dialling 101 or 999 in an emergency. Police forces have specially trained officers to deal with these types of incidents.

Additionally, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is the UK internet Hotline for anyone to report online child sexual abuse imagery and non-photographic child sexual abuse images anonymously.

IWF works internationally to make the internet safer. They help victims of child sexual abuse worldwide by identifying and removing online images and videos of their abuse.

For further information and for a link to this, along with other websites, please see links in related information.