Powerful Campaign from Women's Aid Gives a Voice to Failed Children

Full-service creative agency Hijinks has developed a powerful new campaign for domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, shining a spotlight on the dangers of a ‘pro-contact’ culture in the family justice system and statutory services, which often prioritise parental contact over child safety, even when children disclose abuse.

Nearly a decade after Women’s Aid exposed the deaths of 19 children due to failings in the family justice system and statutory services, a further 19 children have since been killed in preventable circumstances by perpetrators of domestic abuse. 67 children have been killed by a parent who was also a perpetrator of domestic abuse, in circumstances relating to child contact, over the last 30 years.

Timed to coincide days before the fifth anniversary of the Harm Panel Report, Women’s Aid is releasing its third report: ‘Nineteen More Child Homicides’ which shows the urgent need for the family justice system to recognise diverse children’s experiences of domestic abuse, including coercive control, and to centre children’s voices in child contact cases. Despite government promises and the recommendations of the Harm Panel, systemic reform has not been implemented. Women’s Aid is calling for urgent change.

The release of the report on the 23rd June is supported by an impactful out-of-home (OOH) campaign positioned near the Central Family Court in central London. The campaign, titled 'Hear the Children, or Grieve Them,' uses striking imagery and emotionally resonant copy to represent just some of the children whose voices were ignored. The campaign will run for one day on the Holborn Eye’s large format, high-definition digital screen and across the wider Holborn area, all within half a mile of the Central Family Court.

Jessye Werner, communications manager at Women’s Aid, explains, “Almost ten years ago, Women’s Aid produced a report identifying 19 children who had been killed as a result of failure in our family justice system and statutory services. Yet today, nearly a decade later, another 19 children have been killed in similar, preventable circumstances. This cannot continue.”

​Gabriel Garcia and Felipe Sampaio, creative directors at Hijinks, says, “The idea behind the campaign is simple, but the message is urgent: children need to be heard by statutory services and the family courts. We wanted to create a moment of reckoning to highlight how the family courts’ ‘pro-contact’ culture ignores children and hands them straight to domestic abusers, putting them at fatal risk.”

Jessye Werner, communications manager adds, “Since our last report, the pro-contact culture continues to cost lives. A lack of political and judicial will has halted any attempts to protect children and prevent further tragedies, with the government, statutory agencies, and family court professionals failing to implement many of the lifesaving recommendations in the Harm Panel Report. We are calling for urgent reform.”

This campaign marks the first collaboration between Hijinks and Women’s Aid, with further activations planned for August.