SAFECHAIN™ RESPONSE TO THE DOMESTIC ABUSE COMMISSIONER'S REPORT
Victims in Their Own Right™
Why Children Continue to Disappear Inside Adult Safeguarding Systems
External Evidence Response Series™ (EERS)
Version: 1.0
Author: Samantha Avril-Andreassen FRSA
Organisation: SAFECHAINN Ltd
Executive Summary
The Domestic Abuse Commissioner's report Victims in Their Own Right™ represents one of the most important developments in modern safeguarding policy.
The report challenges a longstanding assumption embedded across many systems:
That domestic abuse primarily affects adults.
The evidence demonstrates that children are not merely witnesses to domestic abuse.
Children experience domestic abuse.
Children are affected by domestic abuse.
Children carry the consequences of domestic abuse.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 formally recognises children as victims where they:
see;
hear;
experience;
the effects of domestic abuse.
This represents an important legal development.
However, recognition alone does not guarantee protection.
The report repeatedly demonstrates that although children may now be recognised as victims in law, they often remain invisible in practice.
SAFECHAIN™ argues that this is not primarily a legal failure.
It is an infrastructure failure.
The challenge is not recognition.
The challenge is continuity.
Part I
What Victims in Their Own Right™ Reveals
The report identifies a recurring safeguarding problem.
Children frequently become attached to adult safeguarding pathways.
As a result:
support is focused upon adults;
records focus upon adults;
assessments focus upon adults;
outcomes focus upon adults.
The child's experience becomes secondary.
The child's safeguarding journey frequently disappears within broader family processes.
Part II
The Child Visibility Paradox™
SAFECHAIN™ identifies the report's central finding as:
The Child Visibility Paradox™
Children are present.
Children are recognised.
Children are discussed.
Yet children frequently remain institutionally invisible.
This creates a dangerous safeguarding gap.
Part III
Why Current Systems Fail Children
The report reveals several recurring failures.
Failure One
Adult-Centred Systems™
Most systems were designed around adult service users.
Children frequently become secondary participants.
Failure Two
Fragmented Child Information™
Information about children exists across:
schools;
healthcare;
social care;
police;
courts.
Yet continuity remains inconsistent.
Failure Three
Participation Deficit™
Children frequently have limited opportunities to participate meaningfully.
Their experiences may be filtered through adult perspectives.
Failure Four
Transition Failure™
Children move between systems without safeguarding continuity.
Part IV
SAFECHAIN™ Analysis
The report demonstrates that legal recognition is necessary but insufficient.
Recognition without infrastructure creates:
Visibility Without Continuity™
SAFECHAIN™ argues that safeguarding systems require mechanisms capable of carrying child vulnerability across institutional boundaries.
Without continuity, recognition becomes episodic.
Part V
SAFECHAIN™ Infrastructure Response
Child Safeguarding Continuity Credential™
The child's safeguarding status becomes portable.
The objective is continuity rather than repeated disclosure.
Child Vulnerability Verification™
Verified safeguarding concerns remain visible across authorised systems.
Participation Integrity for Children™
The system records:
participation needs;
communication needs;
safeguarding adjustments.
Early Intervention Governance™
Patterns become visible before harm escalates.
National Vulnerability Verification Infrastructure™
Children become recognised participants within safeguarding architecture rather than passive attachments to adult cases.
Part VI
Policy Implications
The report raises important questions.
How should child victim status travel between institutions?
How should schools interact with safeguarding infrastructure?
How should family justice systems maintain continuity?
How should participation rights be operationalised?
How should child safeguarding information remain visible over time?
SAFECHAIN™ provides a framework capable of addressing these questions.
Part VII
The SAFECHAIN™ Position
The report demonstrates that children do not disappear because institutions lack concern.
Children disappear because systems lack continuity.
The challenge is not awareness.
The challenge is infrastructure.
The challenge is ensuring that child safeguarding information remains visible, actionable and accountable across institutional journeys.
Conclusion
Victims in Their Own Right™ demonstrates that recognising children as victims was a vital step.
However recognition is only the beginning.
The next challenge is implementation.
SAFECHAIN™ proposes that child safeguarding requires:
continuity;
verification;
participation integrity;
accountability.
The architecture therefore seeks to ensure that children are not merely recognised as victims in law but protected as participants within safeguarding systems.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2026 Samantha Avril-Andreassen. All rights reserved.
SAFECHAINN Ltd (Company No. 12038453).
SAFECHAIN™, Child Safeguarding Continuity Credential™, Child Visibility Paradox™, Child Vulnerability Verification™, External Evidence Response Series™, EERS™, National Vulnerability Verification Infrastructure™ and all associated methodologies, governance models, implementation architectures and intellectual constructs are proprietary intellectual property authored and developed by Samantha Avril-Andreassen.
No reproduction, implementation, adaptation, deployment, AI training, commercialisation, derivative development or institutional adoption may occur without prior written permission from Samantha Avril-Andreassen and SAFECHAINN Ltd.