Hidden victims must have a voice

Sep 27 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THEY are often the hidden victims of a pernicious form of abuse.

What goes on behind closed doors often never hits the headlines. Until it is too late.

But the shocking scale of the domestic violence and abuse problems across Kirklees, revealed today, is something that should concern us all.

Especially when children are involved. Hundreds of them have had to suffer as their parents subject each other to frightening, vile abuse, both physical and mental.

How many of those children cry themselves to sleep at night listening to the sounds of another beating?

Domestic violence is a crime and, quite rightly, the police and social services chiefs are anxious that it is brought out into the open.

This week’s campaign to highlight the concerns must be more than a talking shop. It must get the message across to the victims and to those who witness the abuse that there are people who are willing to listen, who are able to help.

Only when the perpetrators are finally held to account for their actions can we claim to have done our bit.