Significant rise in Teesside of domestic abuse victims under 18
We've obtained figures from an FOI to Cleveland Police
We are hearing of a significant rise in domestic abuse victims who are under 18 in Teesside over a 10-year period.
Figures we have obtained through an FOI shows there were 150 reports to Cleveland Police in 2014, but a decade later in 2024, it was 437 - an increase of 191 percent.
During that period, there was also a 572 percent rise in the number of perpetrators who were under 18 - from 76 to 511.
We have been speaking to Harbour, a specialist domestic abuse charity which is based in Hartlepool.
Lynsey Bradshaw, the young person's independent domestic violence advisor for Hartlepool and Stockton areas, said: "I think social media has a massive part to play and some television programmes that young people are watching sometimes glorify abusive behaviours and people don't recognise it as that. I think there's more awareness around domestic abuse and obviously specialist services like Harbour are around to support young people.
"A young person's domestic abuse relationship differs from an adults, the way that they are abused within that relationship and sometimes it's not always seen by the young person, parents, or other services that that could be an abusive relationship.
"We offer one-to-one support and it's quite intense support because a lot of these young people will come into our service and the domestic abuse is just one part of what's going on for them. We work with a lot of young parents and there may be drug or alcohol, housing or they're maybe not attending school or colleges."
Kirsty Miller, the young person's independent domestic violence advisor for the North Tyneside area, said: "It's scary and it's quite worrying. A lot of these young people won't recognise that their relationship is unhealthy or abusive.
"There's been a massive influx and I'm not sure if that's because people are talking about it more now and young people are more aware of what domestic abuse is as we cover it in schools, so I think there's less stigma attached to it and everybody's kind of talking about it, celebrities, social media, things like that.
"They might consider it as quite normal because they're not used to anything else, they don't know what a healthy relationship looks like. A lot of these young people have lived experience of it as a child, witnessing in their own homes between maybe parents or caregivers.
"I think a lot of young people consider domestic abuse to happen to older people who are in a marriage or they've lived together for a long time and actually that's probably not going to happen to them, so it's really worrying."
How to contact Harbour
If you need urgent advice, please call 0300 020 2525 which will be answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you are in immediate danger, always call 999.
Email: [email protected]
Kirsty added: "We are here to support you. A relationship shouldn't make you feel unsafe, scared or worried and it should definitely not make you feel bad about yourself. Speak to somebody who you can trust, so if you're in school or college, they'll be an appointed person.
"Harbour is open 24/7, so you can call us and we've also got a website, a live chat, Facebook, Instagram and please if you're in immediate danger, or you're frightened or worried for your own safety, call 999 immediately."