Hijinks and Children’s Choir Silence Parliament in Haunting Protest Against Unsafe Contact Laws

National domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid and creative agency Hijinks has staged a moving children’s choir performance outside Parliament. It was attended by several ministers from the Department of Justice including Jess Philips, parliamentary under-secretary of state for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, ministers Sarah Sackman and Alex Davies-Jones.

The 19-strong choir of children aged seven-12, who performed a version of the song ‘Lovely’ by Billie Eilish and Khalid, was assembled to reflect the 19 preventable child homicides documented in Women’s Aid’s recent ‘19 More Child Homicides’ report, released on June 17 2025 and maintain pressure on lawmakers to end the dangerous ‘pro-contact’ culture that prioritises the rights of abusive parents over children’s safety.

The project went live on the day that the government made the momentous announcement to repeal the presumption of parental involvement in the family courts. The decision looks set to end the dangerous ‘pro-contact’ culture placing the rights of abusive parents over children’s safety.

The performance began with all the children singing together acapella, but gradually they all stopped singing one by one until the choir became silent – symbolising how children’s voices and experiences have been so often silenced in the family courts.

Following the stunt, a film of the performance will be published on social media.

The idea builds on Hijinks’ previous OOH campaign for Women’s Aid, which launched in June with the message ‘Hear the children, or grieve them’.

​Gabriel Garcia and Felipe Sampaio, creative directors at Hijinks, said, “We chose Billie Eilish’s “Lovely” because it captures the quiet pain of feeling unseen and unheard. Its haunting tone mirrors the silence surrounding children whose voices are ignored by the courts. Hearing it sung by a choir of children adds a heartbreaking contrast. This idea centres on turning their voices into a call to action that inspires the kind of change that will protect future generations.”

Hijinks worked with production company Caviar and director of photography Natalja Safronova on the film, with post by Absolute. The production worked with Finger Music and received special permission from Billie Eilish to use her song, and worked with the Young Talent Academy children’s choir and choirmaster Mark Delisser.

The film will run on TikTok as online paid media, and on Women’s Aid’s social channels, including Meta, LinkedIn and YouTube.

The government’s decision to repeal the presumption of parental involvement has ushered in a new era of hope for countless women and children, who have historically had the courts system used against them by perpetrators as a means of continuing abuse. Women’s Aid believes that despite this significant decision, we must never forget the many children who have been killed because of unsafe family court practices. The charity’s recent report found that in the last 30 years, 67 children have been killed by a parent who was also a perpetrator of domestic abuse, in circumstances relating to unsafe child contact.

The event was set to coincide with the anniversaries of the deaths of Jack and Paul, beloved sons to Claire Throssell MBE, Women’s Aid survivor ambassador, whose deaths could have been prevented. In 2014, Jack, 12, and Paul, nine, were both killed by their father, despite Claire’s warnings that he was a danger to them. Paul died on 22nd October 2014, and Jack on the 27th October 2014. Claire has since campaigned tirelessly with Women’s Aid to stop unsafe child contact with dangerous perpetrators of domestic abuse.

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, commented, “Today’s event was a poignant, and visceral, reminder of the very real danger that the ‘pro-contact’ culture in family courts poses to the lives of children and their mothers. Time and time again survivors have told us of their harrowing family courts experiences, which allow the perpetrator of abuse to carry on tormenting survivors and their children – and finally, we are seeing some real and significant change take place. The government has made a momentous decision to repeal the presumption of contact – a vital step that will usher in a time of change and will see the safety and wellbeing of children prioritised.

“For years, we and our survivor ambassador, Claire Throssell MBE, campaigned to have the presumption of contact removed. We succeeded. Now, we will continue applying pressure on the courts to maximise the impact of this monumental decision, by calling for specialist domestic and sexual abuse training to be mandated for judges, in recognition of the fact that years of pro-contact culture will take time and education to reverse, and to ensure that preventable mistakes are avoided and both women and child survivors are kept safe.”