Domestic Abuse Act 2021

3 Children as victims of domestic abuse E+W

(1) This section applies where behaviour of a person (“A”) towards another person (“B”) is domestic abuse.

(2) Any reference in this Act to a victim of domestic abuse includes a reference to a child who—

(a) sees or hears, or experiences the effects of, the abuse, and

(b) is related to A or B.

(3) A child is related to a person for the purposes of subsection (2) if—

(a) the person is a parent of, or has parental responsibility for, the child, or

(b) the child and the person are relatives.

(4) In this section—

• “child” means a person under the age of 18 years;

• “parental responsibility” has the same meaning as in the Children Act 1989 (see section 3 of that Act);

• “relative” has the meaning given by section 63(1) of the Family Law Act 1996.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 3 in force at 1.10.2021 for specified purposes by S.I. 2021/1038, reg. 2(c)

I2 S. 3 in force at 1.11.2021 for specified purposes by S.I. 2021/1038, reg. 3(a)

I3 S. 3 in force at 31.1.2022 in so far as not already in force by S.I. 2022/73, reg. 2