Women’s Aid and sector colleagues issue a Statement of Intent to the Judiciary College

 

Ellie Daniel, Head of Policy and Survivor Services at Women’s Aid, comments:  

“While we have seen positive reforms to the family justice system since the release of the Harm Panel report in 2020, the culture change in family courts has been too slow, leaving countless women and children at risk of harm, their experiences minimised and dismissed.  

 

“This is why we, along with our sector colleagues, are issuing a collective Statement of Intent, calling on the Judicial College to develop high quality training on domestic and sexual abuse. This should be based on key domestic abuse training principles that we, as a collective, developed alongside survivors. 

 

“This specialist training will play a vital role in helping the judiciary identify risks of harm and mitigate court-induced trauma for survivors, meaning that the safety of women and children is at the heart of all court decisions. 

 

“We are also calling on the Government to make resources available to the Judicial College to enable the development and implementation of this training. For too long, abusers have been able to manipulate the court system to continue harming women and children. This must stop now.” 

 

You can read the Statement of Intent here: Family Court Judicial Training Statement of Intent