Experts say we need to know more about the effects on children when one of their parents kills the other.

Over 50,000 children worldwide lose a parent to domestic homicide each year.

A new paper from Monash University suggests that the children not only need support to cope with the sudden loss but also with unaddressed histories of domestic violence and exposure to graphic homicide scenes. 

“The life of these children is literally turned upside down. At once they lose both parents and often their home and school environment too, because they have to move. Our data suggest that these children are even more burdened than we already expected,” said lead researcher Dr Eva Alisic.

The new report contains findings regarding 256 children in the Netherlands who lost a parent to intimate partner homicide.

She says the data could be used to further raise awareness of the need to support those affected in Australia.

“Almost every week, a woman in Australia is killed by her (ex) partner. Many of these women have children,” Dr Alisic said.

“We need to understand their situation, give them a voice, and provide the best possible care.”

The researchers cross-examined eight different types of data for the decade running from 2003 to 2012, scrutinising legal verdicts, child protection information, newspaper reports, and criminological data, among others.
Dr Alisic said the study was made even more challenging because relevant information about the children was often missing.

She said the next step will be to analyse the research team’s interviews with young people and their caregivers, and to start data collection in other countries.

“Only when we compare different systems, we can see how legal and social differences affect these children and find examples of best practice. And we need local information to improve local systems of care,” she said.