Scheme aims to give confidence to abused children

Pamilerin Beckley (far right) said The Haven made a big difference to the people it helped

Children and youngsters who have experienced domestic violence have become more confident through a support scheme, a charity said.

The Haven in Wolverhampton has used a grant from Children in Need to fund a support worker to put on activities for them.

"I have seen a lot of difference because when we were at home he was reserved," one mother, who wanted to remain anonymous, said about her son.

"When we got here I could see him coming out of the hole he was in."

The Haven received more than £88,000 in May from the BBC charity to pay for the worker over three years.

Pamilerin Beckley, from the charity, said it had already made a huge difference.

"When you follow the journey of the women and children that come here from when they first come into our doors, to when they leave you can't help but see the impact of the funding," she added.

Another staff member, Louise, said she saw the children arriving at the centre as being like snails - "delicate and fragile and misunderstood".

She added she and the other staff worked to help the youngsters become more confident.

"[So they] socialise with other children their own age, get them out in the community, to the bigger, wider world," she added.

Ms Beckley said the support from Children in Need was important because services helping victims of domestic abuse were, in her view, underfunded.

She said some of the women and children came to them with nothing but the clothes on their backs and it was their job to "make them feel at home and create that warm and inviting environment".

BBC Children in Need Day takes place on 15 November. Find out more about it here.