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Success story
She was five months pregnant when he pushed her back against the bedroom door. Nine months after the birth, he applied for their son to stay with him overnight. She had no police report and asked our family law specialists if domestic abuse in pregnancy could still count. She agreed we could tell her story if nothing in it could identify her.
Domestic abuse in pregnancy that nobody else saw
She was in her twenties and expecting her first baby. He pushed her after she said she would go to a friend’s birthday meal. The next morning she messaged her sister: he had shoved her into the door, the baby was kicking, she was fine.
After that he came to every antenatal appointment and answered the midwife’s questions about her mood himself. Each night he took her phone, saying she needed rest. Her sister’s messages after nine went unanswered.
Once, while taking a blood sample, the midwife sent him outside and asked whether she felt safe at home. She said not always, and mentioned the door. It was the only time in the pregnancy anyone asked her alone about domestic abuse.
She moved to her mother’s when the baby was eleven weeks old. He visited on Sundays until his application for alternate weekends arrived.
Does abuse before the birth count?
It does. Section 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 makes abusive behaviour between partners or ex-partners aged 16 or over domestic abuse. That covers physical abuse and controlling or coercive behaviour, and a single incident can be enough.
Family courts apply the same definition through Practice Direction 12J, which says controlling behaviour includes cutting a person off from support and regulating their daily behaviour. Domestic violence during pregnancy falls within it like abuse at any other time.
Records of domestic violence during pregnancy
He would deny it. We advised her to look for anything a midwife or doctor wrote about the domestic abuse during the pregnancy, before anyone thought of court. Article 15 of the UK GDPR gave her a right to a copy of her own personal data, and she asked the maternity unit and GP practice for copies.
We told her to read the whole file herself first. The midwife’s dated entry was there: partner asked to wait outside, patient says pushed against a door, leaflet given. Weeks after the birth, her GP had noted anxiety and that her partner checked her phone.
One entry did not help: at a check after the push, with him beside her, the notes said no concerns at home. We advised her to explain it openly in her witness statement, since he had answered for her.
Setting out domestic abuse in pregnancy for the court
With our help, she answered on Form C7 and used a C1A form for raising allegations of harm: three dated allegations, each naming its record.
The judge at the first hearing ordered a fact-finding hearing on the domestic abuse during her pregnancy. Each allegation went into a Scott schedule beside his reply: he had never pushed her, and the midwife had misunderstood.
On our advice, she asked the judge to direct the hospital to send the complete maternity record for the pregnancy, so the note was read in context without the rest of her medical history. Practice Direction 12J names health services among the third parties the court should consider directing to provide documents.
The judge agreed. Her sister’s short statement covered the morning message and the silent evenings.
Findings on the push and the phone
Giving evidence, he accepted the appointments and the phone, saying he cared, but denied the push. The judge found it proved: she had messaged her sister the next morning, and the midwife’s note came weeks later, long before any dispute.
The judge also found that answering for her and taking her phone were controlling behaviour, because together they stopped her speaking for herself or reaching her sister. With domestic abuse in pregnancy proved, the judge turned to contact.
Under Practice Direction 12J, the court should not order contact unless satisfied that the physical and emotional safety of the baby and his mother can, as far as possible, be secured before, during and after contact, and that he will not subject her to further domestic abuse.
There were no overnight stays. The father now sees his son every other Saturday at a child contact centre, with staff supervising. A review follows in six months. Another case could end differently.
If you suffered domestic violence during pregnancy
Check when your reply to the court is due, and send a C1A form with it describing the abuse. Ask your GP practice and maternity unit for copies of your records now, and mark any entry you will need to explain.
Keep messages from that time on the original phone, without editing or deleting any. If the other parent disputes a record, ask the judge to direct the full record for the dates that matter. Do not mention the hearing on social media. We change identifying details in every account, as our approach to success stories explains.
“Parents often leave out a partner’s presence at every appointment as too ordinary to mention. Put it in, and check whether your notes record who came with you.
A midwife’s note may be one line of shorthand: quote it exactly, then say in your own words what you told them. If a midwife or GP referred you to a domestic abuse service during the pregnancy, ask the judge to direct that service’s notes too.”
Hannah Overton, Complex Children Specialist & Client Support, Kabir Family Law
Has he applied for overnight stays?
If a contact application has followed domestic abuse in pregnancy, ask for a free first consultation. In private, we can talk through what your maternity and GP records may show and which to ask for first.
The legal issue
A first-time mother in her twenties said her partner pushed her back against a bedroom door when she was five months pregnant. From then on he attended each antenatal appointment and spoke for her whenever the midwife asked a question, and he took her phone every night.
She left when their son was eleven weeks old. When the baby was nine months old, the father asked the court for a child arrangements order with overnight stays every other weekend. There had been no police report and no photograph, and she was unsure whether abuse during the pregnancy would count.
The law this rests on
- Domestic Abuse Act 2021 s.1(2) and (3): behaviour of one person towards another is domestic abuse if both are aged 16 or over and personally connected, and the behaviour is abusive. Abusive behaviour includes physical or sexual abuse and controlling or coercive behaviour, and it does not matter whether it is a single incident or a course of conduct.
- Domestic Abuse Act 2021 s.2(1)(e): two people are personally connected if they are, or have been, in an intimate personal relationship with each other.
- FPR Practice Direction 12J para 2A: domestic abuse has the same meaning as in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
- PD12J para 3: controlling behaviour includes isolating a person from sources of support and regulating their everyday behaviour.
- PD12J para 16: the court should determine as soon as possible whether it is necessary to conduct a fact-finding hearing.
- PD12J para 19(f): where the court considers a fact-finding hearing is necessary, it should consider whether documents are required from third parties such as the police, health services or domestic abuse support services, and give directions for those documents to be obtained.
- FPR r.21.2(1), (3) and (4): where an application is made under any Act for disclosure by a person who is not a party, the court may order it only where disclosure is necessary to dispose fairly of the proceedings or to save costs, and the order must specify the documents or classes of documents to be disclosed.
- UK GDPR Article 15(1) and (3): a person has the right of access to personal data about them, and the controller must provide a copy.
- UK GDPR Article 12(5) and Article 15(3): action on a request under Article 15 is free of charge unless the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, and a reasonable fee may be charged for further copies.
- PD12J para 29: the court should, wherever practicable, make findings of fact as to the nature and degree of any domestic abuse established and its effect on the child, the child's parents and any other relevant person, and must record its findings in writing in a schedule to the relevant order.
- PD12J para 36(3)(a) and (b): the court should make an order for contact only if it is satisfied that the physical and emotional safety of the child and the parent with whom the child is living can, as far as possible, be secured before, during and after contact, and that the parent with whom the child is living will not be subjected to further domestic abuse by the other parent.
- PD12J para 38(a) and (d): where domestic abuse has occurred but the court considers direct contact safe and beneficial for the child, it should consider whether contact should be supervised, and if so where and by whom, and whether it will be necessary, in the child's best interests, to review the operation of the order, setting a date for the review if so.
- Children Act 1989 s.1(1) and s.1(3)(e): the child's welfare is the court's paramount consideration, and the court has regard to any harm the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering.
- Form C1A (GOV.UK): used to tell the court about harm that you, a child or children have suffered or are at risk of suffering. Form C7 (GOV.UK): used to respond to an application about a child; to respond to allegations of domestic abuse, fill in Form C1A and send it with the C7.
How we approached it
We advised her that the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 definition, which the family court adopts through Practice Direction 12J, covers physical abuse as well as controlling or coercive behaviour, and that abuse during pregnancy falls within it.
We advised her to use her right of access under the UK GDPR to obtain copies of her own maternity and GP records, and to check the whole file herself before relying on any entry.
The file held a midwife's note, made when she was seen alone, that she had been pushed against a door, and a GP entry recording her anxiety and his checking of her phone. An entry from a check after the push recorded no concerns, but he had been present and had answered for her, so we advised her to explain that openly in her witness statement.
We helped her complete Form C7 and a C1A form setting out three dated allegations, each with the record that supported it.
Once he said the midwife had got it wrong, our advice was to seek a direction for the hospital to provide the complete maternity record, covering the months of the pregnancy only, so the note could be read in context without opening up the rest of her medical history.
The judge made that direction. Her sister provided a short statement about the message sent the morning after the push and the evenings her messages went unanswered.
The outcome
He accepted going to every appointment and taking her phone at night, saying he did both because he cared, and he denied the push.
The judge found the push proved, relying on the message she sent her sister the following morning and on the midwife's note, made weeks later and long before any dispute about the baby. The judge also found that speaking for her at appointments and taking her phone each night were controlling behaviour.
Applying Practice Direction 12J, the court did not order overnight stays. It ordered daytime contact on alternate Saturdays at a child contact centre where staff supervise, with a review after six months. Her result came from her own records and her sister's evidence, and another case could end differently.
What to take from this
- If you are both aged 16 or over, abusive behaviour by a partner or former partner while you are pregnant counts as domestic abuse in law (Domestic Abuse Act 2021, section 1), even if it happened only once.
- Records made at the time can be evidence: maternity notes, a midwife's note of what you said when seen alone, and GP entries.
- You have a right to a copy of your own records, normally free of charge. Ask the hospital and your GP practice, then check the whole file before you use any entry.
- Explain any entry that seems to go against you, such as no concerns recorded while the other parent was in the room.
- Tell the court about the abuse on Form C1A, sent with Form C7 if you are responding to an application.
- If a record is disputed, ask the court to direct the complete record, limited to the relevant dates. Practice Direction 12J lists health services as one of the third parties from which the court should consider directing documents.
- Keep the original messages on the phone they were sent from, change or delete none of them, and keep the proceedings off social media.
Checked and approved for publication by Garry Steedman.
Last reviewed .
