• At least 750,000 children a year witness domestic violence. (Department of Health, 2002).

• Children who live with domestic violence are at increased risk of behavioural problems and emotional trauma, and mental health difficulties in adult life. (Kolbo, et al., 1996; Morley and Mullender, 1994; Hester et al., 2000)

 • Nearly three quarters of children on the 'at risk' register live in households where domestic violence occurs and 52% of child protection cases involving domestic violence. (Department of Health, 2002; Farmer and Owen, 1995).

 • In 75% to 90% of incidents of domestic violence, children are in the same or the next room. (Hughes, 1992; Abrahams, 1994).

 • The link between child physical abuse and domestic violence is high, with estimates ranging between 30% to 66% depending upon the study (Hester et al, 2000; Edleson, 1999; Humphreys & Thiara, 2002).

 • 70% of children living in UK refuges have been abused by their father. (Bowker et al., 1998)

 • A survey of 130 abused parents found that 76% of the 148 children ordered by the courts to have contact with their estranged parent were said to have been abused during visits: 10% were sexually abused; 15% were physically assaulted; 26% were abducted or involved in an abduction attempt: 36% were neglected during contact, and 62% suffered emotional harm. Most of these children were under the age of 5 (Radford, Sayer & AMICA, 1999.)

 • Information received from local Family Court Welfare Services suggests that domestic violence is present in almost 50% of cases, where a welfare report is ordered. (Association of Chief Officers of Probation, 1999).

 • In a survey of domestic violence service providers, Women’s Aid found that 48% stated that adequate safety measures are not being taken to ensure the safety of the child and the resident parent before, during and after contact. (Saunders, 2001). Two years later, only 3% said they believed that appropriate measures were now being taken to ensure safety. (Saunders with Barron, 2003).

 • Respondents to the same survey (May 2003) reported cases since April 2001 in which a total of 18 children were ordered to have contact with a parent who had committed offences against children (Schedule 1 offenders); 64 children were ordered to have contact with a parent whose behaviour had previously caused that child to be put on the Child Protection Register; and 21 of these children were ordered to have unsupervised contact with the perpetrator. (Saunders with Barron 2003)

• 46% of respondents knew of cases where a violent parent had used contact proceedings to track down his partner. (Saunders with Barron 2003).

• 29 children in 13 families were killed between 1994 and 2004 as a result of contact arrangements in England and Wales, 10 of them since 2002. In five of these families contact was ordered by the court. (Saunders, 2004)

• In the year 2001, there were 55,743 applications for contact orders under the Children Act 1989. Of those, only 713 (1.3%) were refused. (Lord Chancellor’s Department, 2002).