In Violent Homes Children are often the unintended victims of battering. The risk of child abuse is significantly higher when the partner assaulted is also reported. Nearly half of all men who abuse their female partners also abuse their children.
Women being battered are less able to care for their children.
Eight times as many women report using physical discipline on their children while with their batterer than when living alone or in a non-battering relationship. Over 3 million children are at risk of exposure to parental violence each year. Children from violent families can provide clinicians with detailed accounts of abusive incidents their parents never realized they had witnessed. The immediate impact of this exposure can be traumatic-fear for self, fear for their mother's safety and self blame. The range of problems among children who witness parental violence include psychosomatic disorders, such as stuttering, anxiety, fear, sleep disruption, school problems.