What is Family Harm?
What is family harm?
Family harm is when someone uses coercion, power, fear, or intimidation to control someone they are or have been in a close, intimate, or household relationship with. The types of relationships include couples, partners living apart, parent and child, siblings, or flatmates.
- It can be physical, sexual, psychological, or economic.
- It usually, but not always, happens in the home (not in a public place), therefore it is hidden.
- The coercion, control, and other abuse tactics are often subtle and
- difficult for victims to explain to others.
- These tactics adversely impact every aspect of victims’ (and their children’s) lives, including their health, their dignity, and their opportunities to build safe, viable, and fulfilling lives.
- The majority of perpetrators are men, and the majority of victims are women and gender minorities.
- Disabled women, rainbow/takatāpui (especially people who are bisexual and transgender) wāhine Māori, and young women are the most likely to be subjected to family violence.
