Redcar charity providing counselling to four-year-old children because of domestic abuse impact
A charity which supports victims of domestic abuse and their families is providing counselling to children as young as four years old.
Richinda Taylor, chief executive of Redcar-based EVA Women’s Aid, also told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it had seen a spike among older girls and young women being referred for help.
She said during the first six months of the covid-19 lockdown last year it had a 35% increase in referrals for its services across the board and while this demand had levelled off, it remained higher than on average.
Ms Taylor said in an ideal world organisations like hers needed “long-term sustainable funding”.
Last week Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Steve Turner announced that the Home Office had awarded more than £200,000 to tackle domestic abuse after his office led a successful bid on behalf of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton Council.
It will target perpetrators of domestic violence, who remain in a relationship with their victims, as well as those who are not currently subject to safeguarding measures.
The cash will see a number of new, key roles introduced in the domestic abuse process across Cleveland, including domestic abuse complex needs co-ordinators and ‘perpetrator navigators’.
The former will co-ordinate information from all agencies involved with a victim and perpetrator and make sure informed risk assessments and action plans are put in place, while navigators will play a key role in helping abusers to address issues contributing to their offending behaviour.
Mr Turner said the aim was to stop domestic abuse at source through taking a “joined-up approach”, which involved engaging perpetrators and continuing to protect and support victims.
Ms Taylor said that while such funding was welcome, as a non-commissioned service EVA Women’s Aid tended to only get “scraps from the table”.
She said: “Governmental funding does not necessarily reach small grassroots organisations like ours.
“It hasn’t been decided what is going to be done with that yet the £200k funding, we’ve had a couple of meetings with them the PCC office recently about the money for working with perpetrators.
“The PCC are very good and are keen to support local services because they recognise the value of local services, we have that local footprint, we understand the area and what its needs are and that of the victims.
“However one of the problems we have is that when money goes to local authorities, it doesn’t necessarily come to organisations like us, we are a non-commissioned service and tend to get the scraps from the table.”
In June EVA Women’s Aid received £10,000 from Redcar and Cleveland Council, which matched funding also received from the PCC in order to finance counselling for victims of sexual violence within households.
Ms Taylor said: “We are always grateful for any grants and with something like that it is £10,000 less than I have to look for elsewhere, but it is a drop in the ocean as it can cost ten times that to run such a service.”
She said her charity was entirely grant funded – it had about 17 different funders, private organisations by and large, and they had to apply for everything they received with a specific project in mind.
Ms Taylor said: “You get funding for a year and as soon as you get it you are already thinking what is going to happen after April the start of the new financial year.
“Ideally we would like five years funding for things, sometimes we get two, occasionally we get three, which is great, but a year’s funding is really difficult to manage because it comes with lots of reporting structures and there is no sustainability.
“Ideally we need long-term sustainable funding.”
Domestic abuse – some facts
:: Figures released in December 2019 – before the start of the coronavirus outbreak – showed that domestic abuse-related incidents in the Cleveland area accounted for one in six reported crimes
:: A new Domestic Abuse Act became law in April and means local councils have a legal obligation to provide support for victims within safe accommodation.
They are also required to provide a domestic abuse strategy and carry out an assessment of needs and provision of services in their area
:: The Government increased funding available to domestic abuse and sexual services to assist with the impact of the pandemic.
In July last year £403,000 was provided to nine organisations on Teesside via the PCC so they could take on additional staff to deal with an increase in demand and pay for computer equipment allowing staff to support vulnerable people remotely.
:: There were 3,963 incidents of domestic abuse in Redcar and Cleveland alone reported to police between March last year and February this year.
Women accounted for the majority of victims (77%) and more than a third of those reporting abuse were in the 24 to 35 age range.
EVA Women’s Aid was established in 1987 and has 25 staff, along with 19 volunteers.
It says it is the only organisation in the area providing a full ‘wraparound’ service to victims, from providing accommodation, to individual support and training and counselling.
The charity works with more than a thousand women a year and at any one time typically has about 300 active cases on its books.
Ms Taylor said: “We are working with more women all the time, it’s good that they are coming forward, but we also know that during lockdown periods some were prevented from seeking support so are expecting even more victims coming through.
“It’s a concerning trend that we have seen an increase in older girls and younger women being referred, but there have been an increase across the board in all age groups.
“We work with children as young as four to provide counselling and there is no upper age limit.”
Ms Taylor, who has been chief executive of the charity for the past eight years, said victims needed to be supported properly and the “job done right” in addressing perpetrators’ issues, without which “women will keep coming back on a revolving door basis”.
She added: “It is not enough to give somebody a roof over their head, victims need that support as well, as becoming independent is not something you learn overnight.
“Domestic abuse can have a devastating impact on the victim and their family.
“We are here to help, but I do worry what would happen if EVA wasn’t here, we fill in the gaps in the pavement that some others don’t.
“Potentially the whole house of cards comes tumbling down if we don’t have organisations like the PCC and the council supporting us.”