In Scotland domestic abuse refers to a pattern of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading and/or violent behaviour perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner. Domestic abuse does not occur as individual incidents of physical violence, but a longer term pattern of behaviour of which the main purpose is for the perpetrator to maintain power and control over their partner. This behaviour could include coercive control, physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological and emotional abuse, financial or economic abuse, stalking and harassment and online or digital based abuse.
Domestic abuse is overwhelmingly experienced by women and perpetrated by men, with around four out of five incidents reported to Police in 2021-2022 having a female victim and a male perpetrator. This does not diminish the fact men may also experience domestic abuse and can be in need of support. Domestic abuse affects individuals from diverse backgrounds differently and multiple factors, including immigration status, race, class, sexual orientation, disability and age, can intersect to create unique experiences and vulnerabilities. Individuals may experience more complex forms of harm because of the merging of these diverse identities.
You have a right to be safe. If you feel you may be experiencing domestic abuse, whether from a current or ex-partner, there is support out there to help you. Specialist support services aren’t there to judge you or force you to do anything you don’t want to do, they are there to give non-judgemental advice, provide emotional support and practical help in an empowering way.
Please reach out to a local domestic abuse organisation, click on the button below to find the right service for you.
Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC)
A MARAC is a multi-agency meeting for agencies get together to discuss high risk domestic abuse cases to share important information and work together to create an action plan to keep the individual as safe as possible. Many agencies attend these meetings, including Police Scotland, housing, education, specialist domestic abuse agencies and children’s services. If your case is referred to MARAC you will not attend the meeting yourself but you will be contacted by an Independent Domestic Abuse Advocate (IDAA) from Advocacy Service Aberdeen to gain your views and represent you at the meeting. It is important that your voice is heard during the process. Find out further information here
As a professional you may be invited along to a MARAC regarding someone you are working with, or if you are aware a MARAC is being held for someone you support you may wish to request to be invited. It is important that as many agencies as possible working with an individual or family are around the table. No single agency or individual has all the information, any agency may have insights that are important to keeping an individual safe. Our local MARAC is coordinated by Police Scotland, if you are working with someone you feel needs to be referred to MARAC or have any questions about the process you can contact them at MARACGrampian@scotland.police.uk to discuss further. Resources for professionals taking part in a MARAC can be found here.
Safe and Together
Safe and Together is a model for informing professionals work with individuals and families being subjected to domestic abuse. The approach was created by David Mandel and originated in the USA but has since been adopted in many countries worldwide. The model has been endorsed by the Scottish Government and is being adopted by services across Scotland. Aberdeen City Council is committed to embedding Safe and Together into practice and has been awarded funding from the Delivering Equally Safe fund to support the rollout of the model across services.
The Model has three key principles:
- Keeping children Safe and Together with their non-abusive parent, ensuring safety, healing from trauma, stability, and nurturance.
- Partnering with the non-abusive parent as a default position ensuring efficient, effective, and child-centred practice.
- Intervening with the perpetrator to reduce the risk and harm to the child through engagement, accountability, and criminal justice.
The Safe and Together model encourages practitioners to look at the wellbeing and functioning of the whole family in the context on domestic abuse. This approach considers children as victims of domestic abuse, rather than only as witnesses, as a perpetrators actions has wide ranging impacts on them too. These principles also challenge the ‘failure to protect’ narrative, where the non-abusive parent is held accountable and responsible for the children’s safety and wellbeing in the context of domestic abuse. The model challenges the double standards in relation to parenting and gender, holding fathers to the same high expectations we hold mothers to.
Disclosure Scheme for Domestic Abuse Scotland (DSDAS)
This scheme, also known as Claire’s Law in England and Wales, allows you to ask the Police whether your partner or the partner of someone you are concerned about has been abusive in the past. This is called “right to ask”. If Police hold information that suggests you (or your children) may be at risk from your partner the Police will consider whether it is legal, proportionate and necessary for them to disclose this to you. It is also possible for a third party, such as a friend or family member, to apply for a disclosure on behalf of someone they know, if a decision is made to disclose the information will not be provided to the applicant but to the person deemed at risk. Please note that just because the Police are not able to disclose any information to you about your partners past this does not mean that person may not be abusive, Police are only able to disclose abuse that they are aware of.
DSDAS also gives Police the ‘power to tell’ someone that they may be at risk, even if this information has not been asked for. This may happen if Police become aware that you are in a relationship with a person they believe may pose a serious risk of harm to you.
In order to apply for a DSDAS for yourself or someone else please click on the link below, if you need assistance with this you may contact the Police on 101 or request support from a specialist domestic abuse agency.
Disclosure Scheme for Domestic Abuse Scotland - Police Scotland
Are you worried about someone you know?
If you have concerns about someone you know who may be experiencing abuse and you are looking for advice on how best to support them you can contact specialist services for advice. If you feel that someone is at immediate risk of harm, this is an emergency and you should call 999 immediately. Please also see information about DSDAS above.
There are some steps you can take to effectively support a person who you believe may be experiencing domestic abuse.
- Often those who are being subjected to abuse believe it is their own fault, whether they are told this by the perpetrator or they hold their own set of beliefs about what is acceptable in relationships. Reassure the person that their partner or ex-partner is making a choice to behave this way and is responsible for their own action and the consequences of these.
- Listen to and believe what your loved one is telling you, although you should not put pressure on the person to share more than they are comfortable with it is important that they have a safe space to share their experiences without fear of judgement.
- Validate how challenging and complex their situation is as acknowledge all the things they are already doing to keep themselves, and their children, safe.
- Offer them practical support, ask the person if there is anything you can do to make their situation better. This may be providing emotional support, giving financial assistance, supporting them to make a report to Police should they wish to do so, giving them details for specialist support services, helping with childcare etc.
Although it can feel frustrating when someone you care about is being subjected to domestic abuse do not tell them they must leave the relationship, that is their decision and there are many reasons why they may not want to do this at that time. It is important to be there to support them, whatever their decision and acknowledge that this may change over time.