Youngsters whose mothers fled domestic violence and turned to Leeds Women's Aid (LWA) for help often have suicidal thoughts, self-harm, or suffer from eating disorders as they try to deal with the agony they have witnessed and experienced.

But instead of instant support to reduce the impact of such harrowing events and speed up recovery, their needs are not being met for months on end.

By the time youngsters sheltered in the charity's refuges or safe houses get a counselling appointment many have moved on to another home – possibly in another city.

Rosie Robinson, director of LWA, said this meant some could slip through the net and potentially never receive the help they desperately needed.

She told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "Counselling for children in Leeds is a six-month waiting list.

"We can see the children suffering and there just aren't enough services to deal with it.

"When eventually mum gets out of the relationship the child needs access to counselling there and then.

"Often they may well have moved on before they get the counselling.

"Their damage can't be undone but the sooner they can get access to counselling and stop believing it's their fault, the better."

She said: "Domestic violence and seeing the after-effects of domestic violence damages them so much and it robs them of their childhood."

LWA worker Annie Greenwood-Gilyard, a nurse for 22 years and a mental health nurse for 15 years, said: "They have been to hell and back.
Waiting makes it a lot worse."

She drew parallels with the lack of a children's hospital in Leeds.

She said: "You could link it to the stuff about our not having a children's hospital – that there's yet another gap in provision for children."

She blamed delays on lack of funding and resources, plus the time patients needed to continue their treatment.

Rosie said some children that came to LWA had been sexually abused, others had been injured trying to stop an assault and some had found their mums close to death after a botched suicide attempt.

One boy's father repeatedly told him he was going to kill him.

Youngsters whose mums are taken in by LWA are immediately assessed by the charity's children's workers, who can refer them to various partner agencies including Leeds City Council Social Services, Leeds Primary Care Trust's Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) or independent voluntary organisation The Market Place, Leeds.

Ms Greenwood-Gilyard, an NHS worker until eight weeks ago, said: "The CAMHS waiting list is about six months at the moment, easily.

"It has been like that and worse for a couple of years."

So while the women try to get life back on track with help from counsellors visiting the refuges twice a week, the children are left to cope by themselves.

Rosie said: "It's not a criticism of the service, which I understand is fantastic. It's just that demand outstrips supply."

A spokesman for the PCT admitted CAMHS's waiting list had been six months but said extra service provision had gradually reduced it to around 13 weeks over the past year.

Rosemary Archer, director of the council's Children's Services, said it was working on improving the service and said there was a fast-track system for "the most urgent cases".

She said: "We are also exploring how to strengthen the capacity of these services so that appropriate and effective support is readily available to any child in Leeds."