CC(3) DA 8
Communities and Culture Committee
Scrutiny Inquiry : Domestic Abuse
Response from Gwynedd Domestic Abuse Co-ordinator
The availability and accessibility of support for different groups.
Home Safety
The Gwynedd Home Safe Scheme (joint initative between the CSP and Gofal a Thrwsio Gwynedd) and is a free services to residents of the county, continues to incorporate victims of Domestic Abuse, victims of burglary, victims of hate crime and elderly and vulnerable people in fear of crime.
Women
Here in Gwynedd we have two Women’s Aid groups, both groups have a wide rural area to provide support for. These two groups offer all women who have or are suffering from domestic abuse, regardless of age, ethnicity and disability. They offer floating and outreach support, alongside refuge provision for them and their children. However boys over the age of fifteen aren’t allowed into the refuge, this can cause extra concern for certain women during what is already a stressful time.
The above refuge provisions do not provide accommodation for women who are classed as 'high needs’, women with severe mental health, drug and alcohol issues. There is currently no proper provision available to these women which do raise concern.
Counselling availability is also a concern, due to the rural area we live in and lack of some important provision, GP counsellors do seem to have a long waiting list as most of the counsellors cover more than one local GP practice here in Gwynedd.
Victim Support also provide support for women, mostly regarding issues of dealing with police and the court procedures. But they can also contact other sources of support on behalf of the victim.
Children and Young People
If their mothers are receiving support from Women’s Aid, then support is most often offered to the children and young people. Also if the mother isn’t receiving their support, through her consent the children and young people alone can be supported by the above.
Counselling for children and young people is again a problem, due to the long waiting list that CAHMS seem to have as well. Although in most cases of domestic abuse here in Gwynedd, social services are involved and therefore will also have an impact on the support offered to children and young people.
Men
There are currently no local support networks available for men who suffer with domestic abuse. They would have to contact the 'Wales Domestic Abuse Helpline’ for support and advice. Although I am not aware of how well advertised this is here in Gwynedd within male victims.
The response of different sectors to domestic abuse.
I personally believe that things are finally beginning to move on, and that more agencies are beginning to recognize domestic abuse as a vital consideration in all working practices. In Gwynedd we have the 'Gwynedd Domestic Abuse Forum’, that meets in two local areas here in Gwynedd. Members of the forum work in various sectors e.g. health, housing, social services, probation, police etc… This gives everyone an opportunity to get together to provide the best possible services for all victims of domestic abuse. There is still a long way to go to ensure that all policy makers and managers play a pivotal role in making sure services respond to domestic abuse effectively.
The provision of services for adults and children who have suffered sexual abuse within a domestic context.
If domestic abuse is a factor, then the above Women’s Aid groups again would offer their support and service.
The Rape and Sexual Assault (RASA) counsellors also offer their support for victims here in Gwynedd, again due to rural difficulties accessing this kind of valuable service can be difficult, especially for women who have to depend on public transport as this is a problem in some areas of Gwynedd.
National Strategy - how is it delivered on a local level?
Alongside our local forum I am currently in the process of revising and updating our existing local strategy plan. Therefore all members take active responsibility in implementing the National Strategy through our local strategy plan. We will be monitoring the strategy at each forum meeting, revising where we are at and what still needs to be implemented into our every day working practices. By doing this through the forum it ensures that we have a multi-agency approach and response to domestic abuse here in Gwynedd, bringing all expert knowledge and experience together to provide the best local strategy plan.
Allocations of resources including funding.
If you were to speak with any members of our forum they would all agree that funding is a major problem within domestic abuse as with most other things. Funding is required to provide new services, but most importantly to maintain those good services that are already in place within domestic abuse. A simple answer to this is that we need sustainable funding, not short term funding where prolong ness of service availability is always uncertain.
Statistical evidence of the rates and nature of domestic abuse.
In conjunction with the Partnership Analysis, Monitoring of the Local Domestic Abuse 'Hot Spot’ areas continues here in Gwynedd. Our forum reviews their findings.
North Wales Police also record the number of domestic incidents reported, I received a copy of these findings and share these with the Forum members.
Forum members also are responsible for providing data collection from their workplace. This is in need of improvement, which will be included in our updated local strategy plan.
Impact of Isolation
The rurality of Gwynedd is a main factor of isolation within domestic abuse. As I mentioned earlier public transport can be a problem, safety issues for the woman and support workers are also an issue is some rural villages. It’s difficult to provide services for everyone to be able to access here in Gwynedd due to this. We try to raise as much awareness about domestic abuse all over Gwynedd, especially in the isolated villages alongside Women’s Aid and other agencies through the forum. Myself or members of the forum attend local events and again try and raise as much awareness there as possible.
