The King’s Speech 2026 has brought renewed national attention to violence against women and girls, with commitments linked to prevention, safeguarding and the Government’s wider ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

That focus is welcome. Abuse must be named, challenged and prevented. Systems must respond earlier, and children, women and families must be protected from harm. But for children and young people affected by domestic abuse, there is still a gap in the conversation.

Too often, policy focuses on immediate safety without giving the same weight to what comes after. Once the crisis point has passed, children may still be carrying fear, confusion, shame and uncertainty. Their home may be safer, but their sense of trust, identity and emotional security may still feel deeply unsettled.

At EdShift, we believe this part of the response needs much greater attention. As Ellie Brook, our Founder and CEO, explains: “There’s still a huge gap around recovery support for children and the long-term impact domestic abuse has on mental health, identity and relationships.”

“A child’s need for support does not end when the immediate danger has passed.”

After the crisis: why recovery needs time, trust and space

For children affected by domestic abuse, protection from immediate harm must come first. Safeguarding, prevention and accountability are essential, but the impact of abuse does not end when the crisis point has passed. A child who has lived with fear may continue to scan for danger. A young person who has stayed silent may not know how to begin speaking, or whether they will be believed. These are often survival responses, shaped by environments where safety and predictability have been disrupted.

Recovery takes time, consistency and safe relationships. Children need space to move at their own pace, make sense of their experiences and begin to separate what happened to them from who they are. This is why support must be trauma-informed. Children need adults and services that understand behaviour as communication, and recognise healing as a process rather than a single intervention.

Victims in their own right: not just witnesses

One of the most important shifts in recent years has been the recognition that children who see, hear or experience the effects of domestic abuse are victims in their own right.

But recognition in law does not always become recognition in practice. Children can still be treated as secondary to the adult situation around them. Their needs may be considered once immediate safeguarding steps have been taken, but the longer-term impact on their mental health, identity and relationships is often pushed to the edges.

This is where the national conversation still needs to go further. If children are recognised as victims and survivors in their own right, their recovery must be treated as a central part of the response, not something optional or delayed.

Creative support: when words are not enough

At EdShift, our work is rooted in creative, trauma-informed and therapeutic support because children do not always process trauma through words alone. For many affected by domestic abuse, direct conversation can feel too exposing or too difficult. Creative approaches can offer another way in.

Through art, play, movement, storytelling and making, children can begin to explore feelings and experiences that they may not yet be able to put into words. Creativity gives them a safer route into expression, helping them communicate what they are carrying without forcing them to explain everything directly. This is creative practice as part of recovery, a way for children to be seen, heard and supported as they begin to rebuild trust in themselves and others.

The missing piece: helping children move beyond survival

The King’s Speech and wider violence against women and girls commitments rightly point toward prevention, protection and system change. But if children affected by domestic abuse remain at the edges of that agenda, the response is incomplete. Children need more than crisis intervention measures. They need sustained, specialist support that recognises the impact of domestic abuse on development, wellbeing, relationships and identity.

That is where EdShift’s work is focused. Through creative and therapeutic support, children are given space to express what may be difficult to say, to build safe and healthy relationships, and to begin to imagine futures beyond what they have experienced.

This national conversation must place children firmly within it. A future beyond domestic abuse is not created through protection alone. If children are victims and survivors in their own right, recovery support cannot remain an afterthought. It must be built into the response from the beginning.