by Sabina Challenger
Its My Family
Reports and Research
This webpage brings together the latest reports, academic research, policy reviews and practice-insights on how family courts respond to domestic abuse (and how they must do better). Whether you are a legal professional, advocate, researcher, or survivor with lived experience, here you will find up-to-date evidence, and links to key publications.
Our aim is to support informed discussion, drive reform and ensure that the family justice system genuinely protects victims and children—rather than inadvertently exposing them to further harm.
Everyday Business Report
The report aims to highlight how domestic abuse — particularly coercive and controlling behaviour — is frequently minimised, misunderstood, or dismissed in family court child arrangement proceedings. It calls for systemic change to ensure that patterns of abuse are properly recognised, survivors are protected, and children’s safety is prioritised in all court decisions.
Everyday-Business-full-report-web.pdf
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Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and parents in Private Law Children Cases
In June 2020, the Ministry of Justice conducted a comprehensive review of Private Law Children proceedings, known as the Harm Report, to assess risks of harm to children and parents. The findings revealed inadequate support for parents, a widespread disregard for domestic abuse, and a lack of meaningful involvement of children in proceedings — highlighting the urgent need for systemic change.
Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases
Cafcass Domestic Abuse Practice Policy
In January 2025, Cafcass published an updated Domestic Abuse Practice Policy. The policy provides comprehensive guidance to ensure that child and adult victims of domestic abuse are effectively protected in all Cafcass assessments and advice to the courts. It sets out 42 mandatory practice points organised into six key sections:
Overall, the updated policy reinforces the importance of consistent, evidence-based, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive practice to safeguard children and support victims within family court proceedings.
Coercive Control: Harms to Children
This research redefines how we understand the impact of domestic abuse on children. Moving beyond a focus on physical violence, it examines how coercive control—a pattern of domination and entrapment—shapes every aspect of life for both children and their mothers.
Viewing them as co-victims and co-survivors, the study reveals how coercive control confines families in a shared “cage of control,” and explores their journeys toward freedom, recovery, and rebuilding relationships grounded in respect, mutual support, and autonomy.
