Open letter

To the Home Secretary,

We, the undersigned, call on the UK Government to recognise and act on a hidden injustice: the thousands of children who grew up in homes with domestic abuse, and who are now adults - but whose experiences remain invisible in law.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 rightly acknowledges that children who see, hear, or experience the effects of domestic abuse are victims in their own right. Yet once those children grow up, the justice system too often treats them as if their trauma never happened - unless they also suffered physical or sexual abuse.

This leaves adult survivors of childhood emotional and psychological abuse without recognition, without recourse, and without a voice.

We call for urgent action:

1. Recognition in law - Amend the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to explicitly recognise adult survivors of non-physical childhood abuse in domestic settings as victims.

2. Justice without time limits - End arbitrary time bars so survivors who disclose in adulthood are not told it is “too late.”

3. Guidance and safeguarding - Issue statutory guidance so police, CPS, and frontline services record and respond to adult disclosures, with trauma-informed pathways such as personal impact statements or safeguarding action.

Children were there too - and we matter.

We urge the Government to act now.

Sincerely,

[Signatories]