Domestic Abuse

An EasyRead Guide

Domestic Abuse can be lots of things:

Hurting you, orthreatening to hurt you.

Shouting at you andbullying you.

Doing sexual thingsto you that you don’tlike or want.

Taking away your money or things youown.

One type of domestic abuse is controlling behaviour. This might be:

Stopping you fromseeing your friends andfamily, or anyone who supports you.

Stopping you from being independentand making your ownchoices.

Stopping you from going out or talkingto people outside yourhome.

Taking away yourmoney or making youwork for no pay.

Another type of domestic abuse is coercive behaviour. This is making you do what you’re told by:

Hurting you, orthreatening to hurt you.

Shouting at you andbullying you.

Making you afraid

Making you feel badabout yourself.

Domestic abuse isn’tjust what happensbetween 2 people whoare in a relationship.

It can be your family -mother and father, brothers, sisters, sons,daughters, grandparents.

It can be your in-laws- the family of the personyou are married to.

It doesn’t matter ifthe person you are ina relationship with isthe same sex as you.

Most often, domesticabuse is done by a man towards a woman.But men can be victims too.

And it doesn’t matterhow old you are, orwhat race you are. Youcan be rich or poor,disabled or not.

Domestic abuse isalways wrong. It is neverthe fault of the person who is being abused.

The abuser is alwaysto blame and shouldbe stopped.There is no excuse fordomestic abuse.

Children can be badlyaffected by domesticabuse.

Even if they don’tsee or hear the abusehappening, it can stillaffect their lives.

They might not do sowell at school, or theymight have health problems.

They are more likelyto get involved withdrugs, or crime.

It is very important to protect children from theeffects of domestic abuse.

The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme( DVDS, or Clare’s Law )

This is a new law thatlets you find out aboutsomeone you are in arelationship with.

You can ask the policeif the person has acriminal record or ifthey might be dangerous.

You can ask the police if you think that you, orsomeone you know, might be at risk.

For more informationabout the DVDS, lookat the West YorkshirePolice website, or askat your local police station.

What to do if you are a victim of Domestic Abuse

Tell the police.They have specially trained officers who will help you.They will never judgeyou and will do whatthey can to keep yousafe.

You can get more information from the websitewww.westyorkshire.police.uk/domesticviolence

If you don’t want to speak to the police, there are details of otherhelplines and charitieswho can help listedon the website.

There is also help forpeople who have beenviolent or abusive,and who want to change.It’s never too late tolook for help.

How to contact the police

If you think you are indanger, ring 999 and ask for the police.

If it’s not an emergency,you can call the policeat any time on 101.

You can get more information from the websitewww.westyorkshire.police.uk/domesticviolence

999

You can contact 999 bytext message, but youneed to register first.To register, text ‘register’ to 999.

You can use our LiveChat facility:www.westyorkshire.police.uk/contactus

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