On Wednesday 24 January 2024, Lord Philip Hunt of Kings Heath highlighted the importance of raising awareness of childhood verbal abuse by adults and the work of Words Matter when he raised an amendment during a debate about the Victims and Prisoners Bill on Committee Day One.
On Wednesday 24 January 2024, Lord Philip Hunt of Kings Heath highlighted the importance of raising awareness of childhood verbal abuse by adults and the work of Words Matter when he raised an amendment during a debate about the Victims and Prisoners Bill on Committee Day One.
His amendment sought to make clear that when it comes to the definition of “harm” in Clause 1(4)(a), it should include a definition that embraces children and includes verbal harm.
During his speech he said: “My amendment has been inspired by the work of an inspirational, newish charity called Words Matter, which I believe to be the first charity in the world focused solely on verbal harm to children. It aims to eradicate this damaging and underestimated form of abuse, and I pay tribute to its inspirational founder, Jessica Bondy.
“We all understand verbal abuse. It can mean negative words, and language that causes harm to children. It can take the form of blaming, insulting, belittling, intimidating, demeaning, disrespecting, scolding, frightening, ridiculing, criticising, name-calling or threatening a child. It does not constitute only shouting. In fact, abuse can be quiet, insidious and subtle in tone, where volume and facial expression play a part. We have probably all personally experienced verbal abuse, certainly in the profession we are in. It can be extraordinarily damaging, particularly to young people.
“We know that children’s brains are responsive to relationships as they grow up with words, tones and sounds around them. The noble Lord, Lord Polak, has just talked about the long-lasting impact on people who were sexually abused many years ago, and destructive language can have some of the same impact. If one looks at what comprises child maltreatment—physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and neglect—verbal abuse is a key attribute of many of those aspects. It can also be individually damaging to a child’s development, perhaps as damaging as other currently recognised and forensically established subtypes of maltreatment.
“We believe that emotional abuse, including verbal abuse, is on the rise, and is perhaps the most prevalent form of child maltreatment. A systematic review of childhood abuse undertaken by UCL and Wingate University in the US found that verbal abuse does profound damage to a child over their lifetime, affecting their self-esteem, confidence, future potential and ability to function at home, school and the workplace, really affecting life outcomes for them.
“The study commissioned by Words Matter found that this kind of abuse is pervasive in society. That study, which it recently undertook, revealed that two in five children aged 11 to 17 experience adults regularly using hurtful and upsetting words to blame, insult or criticise them—that is, around 2 million children in this country.
“The real problem here is a lack of awareness, because without awareness you cannot have strategies and policies to try to deal with it or engage in the educational programmes that are needed, particularly to help teachers, parents and other adults who are in a situation to try to change their behaviour. I do not pretend that an amendment tonight would magically deal with this issue, but in the spirit of the Minister’s wind-up on previous groups, I hope that by drawing attention to it he will be able to say something constructive about how we might tackle verbal abuse and protect children in the future.”
Jessica, founder of Words Matter, says:
“It was incredible to have the critical issue of childhood verbal abuse by adults discussed in the House of Lords and we are grateful to Lord Philip Hunt for highlighting our work and the need to increase awareness of the lifelong harm it can have on children. Sadly, 2 in 5 (41%)1 children experience adults regularly using hurtful and upsetting words to blame, insult or criticise.
“We were also pleased to hear supportive comments in the debate from Baroness Floella Benjamin, Baroness Sal Brinton and Opposition spokesperson Lord Fred Ponsonby, as well as the response from the Minister Lord Bellamy.
“Inclusion in this debate was a very important step for Words Matter as we bring attention to this issue. If we are going to bring about change, we all have to work together to find solutions.”
ENDS
For further information contact hello@wordsmatter.org
1 The quantitative research among children and parents was undertaken by Family, Kids & Youth (FK&Y), between 1 June and 20 June 2023. The research went through safeguarding procedures and was approved by an ethics committee. 1,166 responses were received to the children’s survey (children aged 11–17 years).