A girl who suffered domestic abuse has appealed to the Scottish Parliament to provide greater protection to young victims.

The 14-year-old, identified as Mags, told the Public Petitions Committee that greater funding was needed to address the problem.

She said she had struggled to cope after she and her family fled her abusive father and others were suffering due to scarce support services.

The committee said it would ask the Scottish Executive what provision it had made to help victims of domestic abuse.

Each child that comes to our service has the expectation that they're going to get help and support, but we can't give it

Frances Tait Scottish Women's Aid

Scottish Women's Aid (SWA) said too many victims were being failed by the system.

The teenager said while she met with a support worker to discuss her problems on a weekly basis, others had no-one to turn to.

She said: "There's no extra money being given for children's workers.

"The group I attend helps me a lot but it would be nice if other children had the chance I get.

The teenager added: "Before I got help all these feelings were crammed up inside me and sometimes they got the better of me.

'Money where mouth is'

"I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have a support worker."

She urged MSPs to create a special hotline to help young abuse victims and drop-in centres to offer advice and help.

An estimated 100,000 children in Scotland have suffered some form of abuse and three outreach workers offer help and support.

The committee heard that almost 9,000 women and children were turned away from refuges every year because of inadequate facilities.

Frances Tait, of SWA, said too many people were missing out on support services.

Dorothy Grace Elder: "Terribly disturbing"

She said: "Each child that comes to our service has the expectation that they're going to get help and support, but we can't give it.

"It's very hard for children going through these experiences to be told that they need to wait a few months."

Heather Coady, SWA national children's rights worker, said MSPs had failed to act after promising to do so.

She said: "We really need the Scottish Parliament to put its money where its mouth is."

Glasgow MSP Dorothy Grace Elder said she was "disturbed" by the evidence.

She said: "It doesn't look as if there's any profound difference from three years ago.

"We have been presented with the most terribly disturbing situation."

A recently launched campaign, called "Listen Louder", highlighted the young people's needs and what they saw as the way forward to improve services.