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To children, the fear of witnessing violence between their parents — the very same people who are supposed to care and protect them — is paralysing and unexplainable. The co-occurrence of child abuse and spousal violence has been widely documented.  In the past financial year, 66 per cent of our own cases involved children who were both abused and witnessed violence between their parents. This has been consistent in the past couple of years. The impact of family violence on children can be detrimental and long-lasting. This is why the changes to the Women’s Charter, (July 4), make sense. The new laws empower the authorities to issue to stop perpetrators at the scene of high-risk cases of family violence. Such directives — which include stay away and no contact orders — send out a strong signal that violence in any form in a familial relationship is not condoned in Singapore. The laws also emphasise that families are important and that every member requires help. This includes children, adult survivors and perpetrators.  Counselling has always been offered to all parties. What is different now is that should someone refuse help, it is now compulsory for them to comply.  Mandatory treatment, especially for those with psychiatric conditions, opens the doors for social services to offer families the help they need. While most people adhere to the law, there is a small group who default on the services offered to them by the court. They defy orders such as the domestic exclusion order and continue to harm members of the family.  Under the amendments, the message is clear that if offenders choose to breach any order, they face increased penalties, such as electronic tagging and arrest.   The amendments also put the welfare of survivors at the forefront.  When a survivor’s life is in danger or her judgement impaired because of trauma, emergency orders enable her to be removed to a safe place, allowing her to make decisions in an environment away from home and with professional support. I believe that the new laws are fundamental changes which will open doors for social services to move in early and provide the support necessary for the whole family, especially those who cause harm.  This also sends a message to children who experience violence at home that there are adults who care enough to take another look at the law and change it, so families like theirs can heal.