Nearly 190,000 babies may be affected by abuse in year

Nearly 130,000 babies were present at or were affected by an incident of domestic abuse in the past three years, new data from England's police forces shows.

- HOLLY BANCROFT

Figures from police forces across the country show that thousands of babies will have witnessed the abuse first-hand.

Research based on the data, which was carried out by the charity For Baby’s Sake, estimated that as many as 187,750 infants are present at domestic abuse police callouts each year in England. Experts said the trauma that these children are experiencing “can be life-altering” and said the data was the “tip of the iceberg”.

The early-years charity received freedom of information data (FOI) from 15 police forces, which combined serve around a third of England’s population. Figures for 2021 to 2024 so far show that 128,006 children aged up to two were either present at or were affected by a domestic abuse incident.