By Keir Mudie

Last updated 08:29, Friday, 09 May 2008

Postcards designed by Cumbrian youngsters have given a harrowing insight into how domestic violence affects children.

• View more pictures...

Delegates at a recent Carlisle conference dealing with domestic violence were presented with statistics, artwork and case studies to illustrate the severity of the problem.

They were told that in Cumbria:

• 30 per cent of cases start when the woman is pregnant;

• 23 per cent of people experiencing domestic violence had to be taken to casualty;

• Domestic violence has more repeat victims than any other crime;

• 90 per cent of abuse is carried out with children in the same room.

Delegates included council staff, workers from the Let Go project, and officers from Cumbria police, who were given examples of the effects of domestic violence.

One case involved Charlotte, 13, who lived with her mum and stepfather who was violent towards her mother on a regular basis. After months of abuse the violence reached crisis when the stepfather attacked them both with a knife. They managed to overpower him and lock him in a room until police arrived.

Another case of prolonged abuse involved 18-year-old Lily. Her partner, Liam, was a drug dealer who assaulted her while she was pregnant, breaking her nose on one occasion.

PC Pete Forster, community officer for Currock, said: “We want to show people that this behaviour towards women and children is wrong and will not be tolerated.

“The whole point of the conference was to get people together and get them thinking about the effects of domestic violence – particularly on children.

“One of the guest speakers had been into schools and discovered that the effects were far-reaching and children were suffering in silence. They want and need those in power to help them and do something for them.

“The conference decided to look at better ways of sharing information and tackle the problem.”

Moira Swann, director of children’s services for Cumbria County Council, said: “The conference was a great opportunity for the board to address the issue of domestic violence as one of the biggest threats to a child’s safety with a range of professionals from across the country.

“Hearing how projects in other areas have been carried out was very useful and we valued their input and the discussions that followed.

“We spent the afternoon in workshops to examine how we were going to turn the policies into practice and the discussions that came out of this were extremely valuable.

“The fact that domestic violence is widespread yet hidden creates significant challenges. We want to work together reduce these incidents in the first place, deal with them effectively when they arise and give the right type of support to the victims and their children.

“Our responses and attitudes to these incidents have an impact on the lives of children and young people and we want that to be a positive one.”

The Cumbria Safeguarding and Domestic Violence conference took place at Carlisle Racecourse. It featured speakers from Cumbria and across the UK, including Davina James-Harman from the Greater London Domestic Violence Project, and Penny Scott from Let Go.