TIKTOK STALK THREAT
TOTAL CONTROL: Violent partners turn to tech to follow and torment victims
LOCAL family violence perpetrators are using technology ranging from TikTok to tracking tools to stalk and harass their victims.
Installing hidden surveillance cameras in the home and using hacking programs to access a person’s bank accounts are among other ways stalkers are harnessing rapidly evolving technology, according to Geelong support services.
LOCAL services say witnessing family violence is having wide-ranging impacts on children, which can foster their own unhealthy relationships later in life.
Bethany specialist women’s and children’s services and family violence team leader Melanie Lamaro said that children often heard or saw family violence, and this had a cumulative impact on them.
Ms Lamaro said that those effects included:
IMPACTS on the brain’s neural pathways, affecting cognitive development and stress response systems;
LOW self-esteem and difficulties at school, which affected their long-term employment and financial security;
MENTAL health problems;
INCREASED aggression, anti-social behaviour and likelihood of substance abuse; and,
TEENAGE pregnancy.
“As well as impacting on health, wellbeing and education, growing up with family violence can affect relationships in later life,” Ms Lamaro said.
“Many children who experience family violence do not go on to use violence as adults, but research shows that boys who have been exposed to family violence are more likely to become perpetrators themselves.
“Meanwhile, girls may be more accepting of intimate partner violence than those who hadn’t experienced family violence as children.”
Barwon Child, Youth and Family (BCYF) family and community services manager Toni Gauntlett said that family violence could cause trauma for children even during pregnancy.
“Evidence shows babies who have experienced family violence while in the womb are born hyper alert and are hard to settle,” she said.
“Trauma occurring during a child’s early years can lead to physical injury, lack of attachment to caregivers, difficulty forming relationships, eating and sleep issues, developmental delay and posttraumatic stress disorder.
“Children living with family violence are repeatedly exposed to high-stress situations that are not conducive to normal development, causing them to become fearful and always on alert,” Ms Gauntlett said.
When children and young people witness domestic violence, they are at greater risk of using violence in their future relationships and role modelling past behaviour in adulthood, she said.
“We often see in many of the families we support, that the cycle of abuse is intergenerational,” she said.
BCYF delivers a number of programs that focus on early intervention, as well as an intensive therapeutic response to family violence.
“It is important for anyone experiencing family violence – whether it is physical, verbal, emotional, psychological, sexual, financial, cultural or spiritual – to know there is help available,” Ms Gauntlett said.