19 Dec, 2025
The For Baby’s Sake Trust welcomes the ambition of the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy and Action Plan and its stated commitment to prevention, early intervention and breaking intergenerational cycles of abuse.
Our response reflects our experience working with families who have been directly impacted by domestic abuse during pregnancy and the early years and engages critically with the Strategy and Action Plan through a domestic abuse informed, trauma‑informed, whole‑family lens.
Throughout, we recognise alignment with our mission, while highlighting areas where the Strategy does not yet go far enough; the high risk of domestic abuse in pregnancy and early years, the impact of domestic abuse on babies and children, the importance of taking an intersectional approach to root causes of violence and abuse, and the need to provide trauma‑informed, therapeutic approaches to break intergenerational cycles of domestic abuse.
Our response
Challenging Misogyny Requires a Whole-School, Trauma-Informed Approach
We welcome the emphasis on schools challenging misogyny and promoting consent and healthy relationships. This aligns with our own preventative work, both within our For Baby’s Sake programme, and in our My Future Me programme, co-created with care-experienced 16–25-year-olds. While education is important, this framing is incomplete without a trauma-informed, whole-school approach that recognises and supports the 1 in 5 children who are victims of domestic abuse. While the Strategy references the YEF data on teenage relationship abuse, it fails to explore the high levels of abuse experienced by both girls and boys within this research. We need to understand how girls and boys experience violence and abuse, the root causes of this abuse, whether there are demographics of children who are at higher risk, how they may respond differently to these experiences, and what it takes to bring lasting change.
Addressing Root Causes Through an Intersectional Lens
We believe it is vital to take an intersectional approach to understanding root causes and experiences of violence, and that multiple factors cited in research including (but not limited to) adverse childhood experiences, early childhood experiences including care-giving and parenting, poverty, racialisation, sexuality and gender, must be considered alongside the vital need to challenge misogyny. In addition to this, the VAWG Strategy does not yet sufficiently explore what it means to “equip parents” in a societal context where harm is present in a significant number of homes, or how parents who are victim-survivors or using abusive behaviour will be supported differently and safely.
Babies and Children Must Be Recognised as Victims in their Own Right
The acknowledgement that VAWG affects babies, children and young people is vital, but it does not go far enough. In law, babies and children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right, and we would have liked to see this reinforced in the Strategy. We would also have liked to see a clearer explanation of when a boy becomes a perpetrator in law – under the Domestic Abuse Act, this is from 16 years of age. We have concerns that the lack of explanation, and suggestion that boys should do the work to end abuse, heightens risk of adultification, and the disproportionate impact this can have on racialised communities. We also have concerns that this may minimise the visibility of harms experienced by boys and is contrary to safeguarding policy and practice.
Mandatory RSE in Further Education Must Be Trauma-Informed
We welcome the commitment to exploring routes to make RSE mandatory for young people under 18 in further education. This is crucial for staff working in this area, particularly when 16+ children can be perpetrators of domestic abuse in law. It is vital that this goes hand in hand with a whole-college, trauma-informed approach, that also understands and responds to the number of students who are victims of domestic abuse in their own right.
Therapeutic Support Must Include Domestic Abuse
While we welcome the commitment to therapeutic support for children impacted by sexual abuse, we believe this should have been expanded to domestic abuse. We believe this is critical to breaking intergenerational cycles of violence and abuse. This would also significantly strengthen the work of Operation Encompass. It is not enough for education providers to know that a child has experienced domestic abuse, they need to be able to provide, or signpost families to trauma-informed, therapeutic support. The proposed innovation fund and Youth Endowment Fund involvement is positive. Still, it remains unclear which types of interventions will be prioritised and whether programmes working intensively with parents, babies and children impacted by domestic abuse will be eligible. There is a risk that adolescent-focused interventions are prioritised over earlier, preventative work in the perinatal period.
From Commitment to Investment in Early Intervention
We strongly commend the Strategy’s framing around prevention and early intervention and its clear emphasis on breaking intergenerational cycles of abuse. This language mirrors our own work directly and reflects the evidence base around adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The recognition that primary-care workers must be able to identify and respond to harmful behaviours, including within sibling and parent-child relationships, feels positive and closer to a whole-family approach – though this language is never explicitly used. The commitment to addressing root causes is also encouraging. However, without specific, ring-fenced investment in evidence-based, trauma-informed, whole-family interventions – particularly during pregnancy and infancy – these commitments risk remaining aspirational.
Early Childhood and the Perinatal Period Are Overlooked
The limited focus on early childhood and infancy is a missed opportunity, particularly when we know that 30% of domestic abuse begins or escalates in pregnancy, and our first 1001 days are critical to life-long outcomes. Much of the investment referenced has been previously committed, rather than representing new, ring-fenced funding for domestic abuse-specific, therapeutic family interventions. Investment in Family Hubs, workforce development and commissioning clarity is positive, but further detail is needed on how these changes will translate into access to specialist domestic abuse interventions for parents and babies.
Trauma-Informed Practice Must Extend Beyond the Courts
While we welcome the commitment to trauma-informed reform, this is overwhelmingly concentrated within the justice system, particularly family courts. Trauma-informed practice must extend beyond courts into health, social care, education and early help systems if it is to be meaningful for families. Children and parents experience services as a system, not in silos. Trauma-informed approaches should therefore be embedded consistently across all points of contact, especially where families first disclose abuse or where risk is emerging.
Training the Perinatal Workforce Is Essential
We support the whole of society approach, with an emphasis on training for primary-care staff. We believe it is essential that this prioritises those working with families in the perinatal period due to the high-risk of domestic abuse in pregnancy, and the profound impact of domestic abuse on child development. We would also like to see an emphasis within this training on the impact of domestic abuse on unborn babies, babies and children, and the importance of taking a trauma-informed approach to break down barriers to seeking and accessing support.
Gaps in Maternity and Care-Experienced Pathways
We’re encouraged by the clear recognition that tackling VAWG benefits the NHS and social care, and the emphasis on cross-departmental working. The inclusion of multiple disadvantages aligns strongly with the intersections experienced by the families we work with through For Baby’s Sake. However, there is a notable absence of focus on care-experienced people and VAWG, despite well-established links. Within the context of health and social care, we are particularly concerned that the strategy has such little focus on maternity. The absence of explicit links to maternity services and the maternity safety agenda is striking, given the well-evidenced heightened risk of domestic abuse during pregnancy and the postnatal period.
Embedding Domestic Abuse Expertise in Family Hubs
We would also like to see clearer direction on how specialist, domestic abuse services can work in partnership with the Families First Partnership programme, and the Best Start Family Hubs, to ensure domestic-abuse informed, trauma-informed approaches to working with families and children are embedded in local provision.
Investing in Specialist Early Years Domestic Abuse Services
While we support learning resources being developed by NSPCC, we would encourage provision of funding for specialist, trauma-informed services working with families during pregnancy and the early years. Other positive developments include reforms to child maintenance, parental leave, and restrictions on parental responsibility following serious sexual offences – all of which will have relevance for families affected by domestic abuse. We are eager to work with government to deepen society’s understanding and response to domestic abuse in the perinatal period and to develop effective, evidence-based interventions.
Protecting Migrant and Refugee Families, Including Expectant Parents and Young Children
We echo the concerns raised by Southall Black Sisters about the Government’s VAWG Strategy failing to fully address the intersecting structural inequalities faced by migrant, refugee and minoritised victim-survivors, where fear of immigration enforcement, insecure status and barriers to safe reporting continue to prevent people from seeking help. For expectant parents, parents of young children, and babies and children who are victims of domestic abuse, these systemic barriers are deeply harmful. We advocate for dedicated protections and inclusive policy measures that recognise how immigration status compounds risk and undermines access to safety for parents, babies and young children.
Ensuring Men and Boys Are Not Overlooked, Including in the First 1001 Days
We welcome the Government’s acknowledgement in the Men and Boys Explanatory Note that, while violence against women and girls is recognised as disproportionate, men and boys who experience domestic abuse have too often been overlooked, and we support the stated commitment to drive forward the change urgently needed. This recognition is important in the context of families in the first 1001 days, where we know domestic abuse can begin or escalate. It is important we recognise the significant harms this causes to all children – including boys – from unborn babies through to adulthood, and that we recognise boys as victims of domestic abuse in their own right. We also welcome the Explanatory Note’s recognition that harmful gender stereotypes around masculinity can prevent men and boys from seeking help, leading to shame, humiliation, and fear of not being believed. We would urge the Government to ensure that its own strategy, language and narratives do not inadvertently reinforce these barriers, but instead actively promote inclusive, safeguarding-led responses that enable men and boys to disclose abuse safely, as well as seek help for harmful behaviours. This is essential if the Strategy’s ambition that no-one falls between the cracks is to be realised in practice.
Our conclusion
Overall, the Strategy has made significant progress in the government commitment to building a safer society for women and girls and breaking intergenerational cycles of violence and abuse. However, it does not yet go far enough in recognising and responding to the high risk of harm in pregnancy, responding to babies and children as victims in their own right, addressing multiple, intersecting factors that impact violence and abuse, or in making a clear commitment at this time to funding for trauma-informed, therapeutic approaches to break cycles of domestic abuse – we believe this is critical to break intergenerational cycles of abuse.
The For Baby’s Sake Trust will continue in our commitment to a world where all babies and children are protected from the harm of domestic abuse, and our mission to promote trauma-informed, therapeutic support that breaks cycles of domestic abuse and gives babies the best start in life.
