This week’s announcements mark meaningful progress: the repeal of the presumption of parental contact in the family courts, alongside amendments to the Victims and Courts Bill that restrict parental responsibility in the most serious cases.

For years, the presumption of parental contact has put “both parents are best” ahead of children’s safety. Repealing it takes power away from domestic abuse perpetrators and puts children first.

New research from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s Office exposes the extent to which domestic abuse is “everyday business” in the family courts.

SafeLives welcomes the findings of the Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry into improving family court services for children. For too long, survivors of domestic abuse - both children and adults - have faced a system that is slow, hard to navigate, and often fails to recognise or respond effectively to the risks they face.

Our response to new measures in the Victims and Courts Bill. We call for trauma-informed implementation, sustainable funding, and protections for all survivors—no matter who they are or how they identify.

The Advisory Group inputted into the programme throughout the two and a half years of the project. The group includes domestic abuse organisations, family legal professionals, academics, and representatives from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s Office.

Domestic abuse training for family lawyers empowers family lawyers to take a trauma-informed approach to representing survivors of domestic abuse, understand the dynamics of abuse, recognise the effect of trauma on clients’ presentation, explain the impact of domestic abuse on children and young people, and enable clients to achieve best evidence. Moreover, the course keeps learners up to date with recent statute and case law.

Domestic abuse training for family lawyers empowers family lawyers to take a trauma-informed approach to representing survivors of domestic abuse, understand the dynamics of abuse, recognise the effect of trauma on clients’ presentation, explain the impact of domestic abuse on children and young people, and enable clients to achieve best evidence. Moreover, the course keeps learners up to date with recent statute and case law.

Evaluation report demonstrating the impact and value of the SafeLives Domestic Abuse training programme for family lawyers.