Cash Threat To Safe Havens For Women

A charity helping women escape domestic abuse in Moray is close to breaking point. Hundreds of desperate women and their children have been given their lives back after turning to Moray Women’s Aid.

However, the growing number of domestic abuse cases and increased awareness of the help available is placing an intolerable pressure on the charity. Its 15 permanent staff and three volunteer counsellors are working flat out but the charity could soon be forced to turn away referrals from other agencies because it cannot cope with the crippling workload.

There were 652 reported incidents of domestic abuse in Moray in the last 12 months but, according to a senior police officer, that is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Core funding from the local authority and central government is not enough to sustain the existing service let alone deal with the growing demand, and the charity has been forced to make bids to the Lottery and Comic Relief to supplement its own fundraising efforts.

Moray Women’s Aid helped provide a safe haven, advice and support for 140 women and their children in the last 12 months. Of those, 70 women were offered residential support at the charity’s main home in Elgin or four others it has across Moray.

Co-ordinator Elle Johnston claims there needs to be recognition of the scale of the domestic abuse problem, the essential role the charity plays and more public funding of the vital service. “I am looking to get funding from the Lottery and Comic Relief and that saddens me. There needs to be more recognition that we are providing a core service,” she said.

“The team that I have is working more hours to cope with all the demand. We have reached the point where my team are getting weary. We don’t ever want to turn women away but it is getting to the point where we can’t cope. We have reached a point that when referring agencies refer women to us we will have to put it straight back to them.”

For one mum who fled a violent marriage with the help of the charity, any cutback in the service would be a tragedy. Marilyn (42), that is not her real name, sought refuge after her husband tried to strangle her and then stalked her after she kicked him out. Marilyn and her young daughter have spent the last 15 weeks in the safety of the charity house and are now ready to move back into a home in a Moray community.

“Moray Women’s Aid has been essential for me to get my life running again. My life had stopped and I was just existing,” she said. “On the first day here I met a support worker and she said something to me I will never forget, ‘You don’t have to be a victim, you can be a survivor’.”

Moray Women’s Aid has almost become a victim of its own success in that awareness of the charity and empowering women not to suffer domestic abuse in silence has led to an increased demand for its services.

Mrs Johnston stressed that Moray Women’s Aid enjoyed a good working relationship with the social work and housing departments at the council. However, she said more core funding had to come from the local authority and other statutory bodies.

Over 200 youngsters affected by domestic abuse were supported by a dedicated children’s service run by the charity. However, £80,000 in Scottish Executive support for that service runs out next March and Mrs Johnston has no idea where alternative funding will come from. She has submitted a bid to Moray Council.

The charity has three dedicated children’s service workers, two based at Marleon House and another in the community. “We work with the schools as well to identify children. If they are being brought up in that kind of (domestic abuse) environment that can be very detrimental in later years for their health and wellbeing,” she said.

The charity provides residential support for up to eight women and 17 children at any one time at its Elgin headquarters. The length of time a woman and her children remain there ranges from 12 to 20 weeks.

It also has an outreach service with four homes across Moray where women and their children can be placed in safe accommodation, with additional support. It also operates a 24-hour helpline for any woman looking to escape an abusive relationship and that number is 01343 548 549.

“It is about raising their self-esteem and confidence. We work closely with Moray Council housing because the next step is for them to have their own tenancy.” Mrs Johnston’s plea for more funding followed the launch of a new poster campaign in Moray this week which is set to raise awareness even further.

The campaign aims to shame perpetrators into seeking help and offering support to victims. Alcohol fuels 90% of all domestic abuse and pubs in Moray are supporting the campaign. Posters will be placed in the toilets of all licensed premises and all members of local Pubwatch schemes have signed up to the initiative.

In the men’s toilet, the poster highlights that violence against women is carried out by cowards, bullies and control freaks, together with images of violence against women and the effect it can have on children. It then challenges them to think about their own behaviour and change it.

A helpline number is provided, which can be called by men who recognise that they may need help to overcome such issues as anger management and alcohol abuse, which could result in violence against women. The poster aimed at women urges victims to come forward rather than suffer in silence, again providing appropriate helpline numbers.

Elgin-based Constable Keith Munro, domestic abuse liaison officer with Grampian Police in Moray, said the 652 reported incidents probably represented the tip of the iceberg. Of those incidents 90% of the violence was directed at women; however, 9% of cases involved violence perpetrated against the man and 1% is gay or lesbian abuse.

The campaign aims to highlight the link between alcohol and domestic abuse. Constable Munro said: “We hope a male offender will be shocked into thinking, ‘Hey, is that me. I don’t want to be like this; what can I do about it?'” Anger management and alcohol abuse support is available to men who recognise they have a problem.

Inspector Jim Masson, head of community policing in Moray, said: “Children are the forgotten victims of domestic abuse and there is a lot of baggage that goes with that.”

The poster initiative was launched in the White Horse Pub in Elgin and manager Ivy Hamilton said: “This is a good idea to try and get the message through to those doing it.”