Hidden Voices is the first focused study on the experiences of children and young people living with and/or exposed to domestic and family violence (DFV) from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) communities in WA. The research project aims to address gaps in existing research on the nature and prevalence of children and young people’s exposure to DFV, the impacts on them and the implications for policy and service-delivery.

Western Australia is one of the most multicultural states in Australia, with nearly half of Australian population born either overseas, or having one or both parents born overseas. One in six Australian women have reported experience of domestic and family violence (DFV), and half of these women reported children being present at home at the time of the abuse.

We have a group of hidden voices—marginalised children and young people who are more vulnerable to the impacts of intersectional and intergenerational DFV, who face more barriers to reporting and accessing support services, and who are falling through the cracks in our system.

In this paper, I will share of some of the initial research findings and bring the voices of these children and young people to help us better understand their lived experiences, the way they resist the abuse and coercive control, and how the systems need to change to better support them.

Children and young people have been proven as capable agents of research participation, and this is critical that their lived experiences and voices are at the centre of research and in informing future policy, service provision, and in developing a trauma-informed best-practice framework for working with children who have been exposed to DFV.