Isolation is one of the tactics often used by controlling and abusive men: keeping women away from friends, family and other sources of information and support. It is one of the ways of stopping her thinking of escape – and stopping her finding out how to.
Abusive men may try and tell their partners who they can or cannot see – or try and keep track of texts, calls emails… But they may also just make it so uncomfortable for friends and family to call round, or meet up – or may move women to a new area to increase the isolation.
The flow of women – often with children – accessing support services due to domestic violence shows a mass migration in England. Women travelling from every local authority area, and ending up in every local authority area.
But it doesn’t often feel like a mass migration for each woman at the time – she may feel like she’s the only one fleeing abuse, and completely isolated and alone.
The middle point of the flow diagram shows women accessing services – this might be the first time she meets other women escaping abuse: the first time she feels that she’s not on her own. Support services may be the first time of not being so isolated – of realising that you are not to blame for the abuse – of not being so alone.
The administrative data of domestic violence journeys show a mass migration – but women and children themselves can feel so isolated – especially if they do not get the support they need and deserve.
How do you assess the need for domestic abuse support in a Local Authority area?
It is well-known how hidden domestic abuse is – that many women keep their experiences secret and never seek formal help. Others do seek help, but are turned away. Others do not disclose the violence or abuse until they are safely away from where the perpetrator might find them.
But over and above all that… assessing need in an area depends on what the word ‘in’ means…
Is it the women and children already in an area?
but what about the many forced to move away because of the abuse…
Is it the women and children coming into an area to seek help?
Is it both?
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 requires Local Authorities (Counties and Unitary Authorities – and London as a whole) to “assess, or make arrangements for the assessment of, the need for accommodation-based support in its area”[1].
But how can they do that?
To take the example of one year of help-seeking to services and one local authority – Cambridgeshire:
The local authority should be able to count the number of women who manage to access formal services – women’s refuges and other types of accommodation – due to domestic abuse; and include that in their ‘needs assessment’. But that depends – of course – on them providing services in the first place…
And the majority – it can be noted – do not actually come from Cambridgeshire…
And then, what about Cambridgeshire women and children? – where do they go to access services?
Well, some ‘remain local’ – remain within Cambridgeshire – but many (and the vast majority of those needing women’s refuges) go elsewhere[1]…
So, should Cambridgeshire be including these as well in its ‘needs assessment’? – maybe if it provided more services they would have been able to stay in the County… maybe they wouldn’t…
Certainly, Cambridgeshire is very unlikely to have any data on all those who ‘go elsewhere’ as the whole point is that they are escaping the abuse – they are not going to wait and inform the authorities of their plans.
So, any local authority – like Cambridgeshire – is only going to be able to count those who come into its area if it already provides services for them to come to; and is unlikely to have any idea of the numbers of its women and children who flee elsewhere.
With the best will in the world, a very partial needs assessment is all that is possible… and there is a perverse incentive to reduce or limit service provision, so that there is less expressed need in your area – and therefore less ‘need’ to provide services for…
Is this what local authorities are currently doing? Given that the ‘needs assessments’ are not made public, it’s impossible to know…
But it’s clear that if you wanted to design a system to fail to meet domestic abuse accommodation needs, then this would be a good way to do it….
[1] Bowstead, Janet C. 2021. “Stay Put; Remain Local; Go Elsewhere: Three Strategies of Women’s Domestic Violence Help Seeking.” Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence 6 (3): 4. doi:10.23860/dignity.2021.06.03.04. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol6/iss3/4
There has never been sufficient accommodation for women and children who need to go elsewhere due to abuse: for somewhere safe, secret and supportive away from the abuser.
Women’s refuges provide both the (temporary) accommodation in places all around the country and the holistic specialist and peer support that is recognised as needed to begin recovery from abuse. Refuges provide much more than just safety[1].
But there has never been enough refuge space for women and children.
Space has become even tighter in the last decade, due to both the closure of some services, and the fact that women are often staying longer in refuges as they wait for some more-settled housing. Other forms of temporary accommodation are filling the gap between the acute need, and the lack of provision, and there is increasing concern about what these types of accommodation really provide. They are known as ‘exempt accommodation’ because they are exempt – like women’s refuges – from the usual Housing Benefit rules that limit rents, due to offering additional support.
However – do they really offer the support that is needed? A Commons Select Committee of Parliament is currently carrying out an inquiry to find out what is going on – prompted by concerns about “unscrupulous landlords failing to provide the support and care that vulnerable tenants need”. In contrast to the quality standards developed with and by women survivors and women’s organisations, there is widespread concern that other providers are unregulated and drive down standards to increase profits.
So, what is a refuge?
The Government has stated key factors that are necessary for a refuge, such as “a planned programme of therapeutic and practical support from staff”, that the “address will not be publicly available”, that it will be “single gender or single sex accommodation”, that “the service will enable peer support from other refuge residents”, and that the “duration of support to be based on needs and not pre-set timescales”. However, there has been a sharp increase in providers who may claim to provide refuge accommodation, but do not meet these minimum standards. And yet they are currently using the status of ‘exempt accommodation’ to claim high levels of public money under Housing Benefit regulations.
The short timescale of the inquiry call for evidence may mean that there are few responses. Indeed, there were only 133 responses to the Government consultation on the whole issue of ‘safe accommodation’ under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. However, there are due to be further public evidence hearings, and it is vital that the Select Committee identifies the rules and regulations needed so that the accommodation women and children have to flee to due to abuse really provides them with what they need.
For women and children’s support and safety, they need and deserve specialist and supportive services – including genuine refuges if they have been forced to relocate.
[1] Bowstead, Janet C. 2019. “Spaces of Safety and More-than-Safety in Women’s Refuges in England.” Gender, Place and Culture 26 (1): 75–90. doi:10.1080/0966369X.2018.1541871.
On Human Rights Day – 10th December 2021 – the report from this research was published.
Featuring more than 250 images by women who have been forced to relocate due to domestic violence, the book and maps provide an overview of the project, highlighting key research findings and new conceptualisations and knowledge from the research.
The publication presents the key messages – and points to further reading – on aspects of People, Places, Patterns and Processes of women and children on the move due to domestic violence and abuse.
To order a copy, please send postal address to info(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)womensjourneyscapes.net or send details via the contact form
Women on the Move – Vol. 1: Journeyscapes of Domestic Violence (book). ISBN: 978-1-7399686-0-1
Women on the Move: Journeyscapes of Domestic Violence. From Everywhere to Everywhere (map). ISBN: 978-1-7399686-1-8
Women on the Move: Journeyscapes of Domestic Violence. One Year of Spatial Churn (map). ISBN: 978-1-7399686-2-5
Leaving abuse is a process – not an event – and often involves points of interaction with agencies, professionals, family, friends, employers, or even strangers.
Each interaction provides an opportunity.
Every woman has been dealing with the reality and consequences of domestic abuse from before she has any contact with services; and will be doing so for long afterwards. But the impact of these interactions on the journey can be crucial.
Women are experts in their own lives, and are passing through a complicated and fragmented system which may or may not help them. At each encounter with family, friends, services, professionals, or strangers she may need
to be allowed to continue her journey – pursue her strategies – and not be blocked
to be enabled in practical or emotional ways – with information and input – and not be blanked
to be actively assisted by services, support and resources – formally or informally – and not have her strategies broken
The encounters and interactions need to build on where she is at – and what she wants and needs.
Therefore, it is crucial – whether you are friends or family; or professionals in statutory or voluntary organisations – to see the opportunity at the point of interaction. The opportunity to Allow, Enable or Assist women’s own strategies.
Women escaping abuse often contact a range of organisations and services. Some help – Some don’t.
Different women might find particular services more accessible – more understanding of their needs and concerns. Each woman’s journey to escape domestic abuse is unique, and only some include formal services in their help-seeking.
The key focus for any responses should be to respect women’s rights and needs – and listen to their experiences. And independent voluntary sector services can be key in this – especially specialist ‘by and for’ services.
These might crucially be women-only services – and services by and for particular minoritised communities.
Black and ethnic minoritised women are significantly more likely to be referred to services by voluntary sector agencies – and less likely to be referred by statutory sector agencies – than White British women[1]. When referrals are made by statutory agencies, Police are more likely to refer Asian Pakistani women, Housing more likely to refer Black African women and Social Services more likely to refer Asian Bangladeshi women.
And Black and ethnic minoritised women are significantly more likely to access services run by the independent voluntary sector – especially women’s refuges – than White British women. This might reflect different help-seeking patterns, as well as the availability and suitability of different services. In terms of distance travelled, and length of time in support services, it is difficult to generalise about different ethnic groups as there is so much variety within groups.
There is more detail in a briefing paper from this research.
The differences and the similarities between women do show how vital the independent and specialist voluntary sector is for women’s domestic violence journeys. So that all women can make the journeys they need and receive the support and understanding they deserve.
[1] Analysis by Janet C. Bowstead using data fromDepartment for Communities and Local Government and University of St Andrews, Centre for Housing Research (2012) Supporting People Client Records and Outcomes, 2003/04-2010/11: Special Licence Access [computer file]. Colchester, Essex, UK Data Archive [distributor]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-7020-1
After over a year of concern about the disruption to children’s schooling, it’s important to remember other issues that also affect children’s education – like their forced displacement due to domestic abuse[1].
If mothers can seek help and support without having to relocate – by staying put – then children may be able to stay at school, and stay in contact with friends, teachers and other support to help them deal with their experiences of abuse. But this may not be possible.
Around half of the women accessing services due to domestic violence have children with them, and over two-thirds are forced to relocate to seek help. Even if this is within the same local authority, children will often still have to change schools due to distance or safety concerns.
Though rates of help-seeking do vary somewhat during the year (see the graph below), with lower numbers in December, the patterns are very similar for women with and without children; and with school-age or pre-school children – as shown by the second graph below which shows the proportions through the year.
It’s clear that women often have very little choice about when and where they seek help – both because of the threat of the abuser, and the lack of service options. This includes the fact that many mothers of school-age children cannot avoid relocating during term-time, and children often face a further wait to get into a new school – and still longer to settle and begin to catch up.
Tracy talks about how the disruption to schooling has affected her son:
“It has all affected them so much; especially the older one – schoolwise. And the way I was – he was really affected emotionally as well – seeing me crying and unhappy, and all these changes, and coming to a new place from the old place.
For my son – changing schools – you know, it confuses children from one place to another. It’s like – he’s changed three times.”
Tracy & son (age 12), daughter (age 3)
Mothers have to seek help when and where they can – so it’s clear that it is vital to support children to resettle. They may be literally safe – especially if they go elsewhere – but needing support to get their lives back on track. This will include both the practicalities of getting back into school, but also the wider support to undo the harm of a disrupted education.
Each woman’s journey to escape domestic abuse is unique, and only some include formal services in their help-seeking. The key focus for any responses should be to respect women’s rights and needs – and listen to their experiences.
But it can be useful to generalise – to some extent – to recognise shared experiences and similarities and differences. Especially if it is clear that particular groups of women are less likely to use particular types of services – or less likely to seek formal help (or more likely to be turned away if they do).
Older women can often seem to be missing from the experiences of service providers. Older women do access services – the oldest in the data used in this research was 102. But older women do seek formal service help in lower numbers.
They also are more likely to have additional needs and barriers:
More likely to have physical health problems
More likely to have mental health problems
More likely to be disabled
And some of these issues may be due to experiencing years of abuse.
There is more detail in a briefing paper from this research.
Some older women will have been experiencing abuse for a very long time before seeking help – like Elizabeth in this research, who planned to leave when her son was independent – and she did when her son left home for university:
“I just thought – I can’t take it any longer. You know – I’ve stood it for twenty-three years for my son.”
Many older women will not have legally-dependent children, but that is not to say that their children’s needs and concerns don’t continue to affect them, and give ongoing opportunities for the abuser to continue to control the situation. As Elizabeth said:
“I couldn’t go to my son’s graduation – which upset me in a way; but then, that was my choice, because I didn’t want to see him [husband]. I couldn’t bear to see him. I’ve seen some of the pictures – that are on the internet – of my husband; and I just had to turn away when I saw him, because it sends the shivers up my spine.”
Though older women may relocate to a refuge, like Elizabeth did; they are significantly more likely to stay put when they seek help, and less likely to go to a different local authority. But when they do go elsewhere, there is no significant difference from younger women in the average distance travelled.
Older women should not be assumed to be more dependent and needy – in fact, they are more likely to self-refer to services than younger women. But they are also more likely to have longer engagement with services – being significantly more likely to stay in a service for 9 months or more. There are only a few services which specifically respond to the needs of older women – like The Silver Project – and there is a toolkit to help professionals improve their responses so older women have a real chance of freedom.
Elizabeth said:
“I knew I was making the right move. I was worried about my son obviously; and I was worried about the future. But I thought – it can’t be as bad as what I’m leaving” “ I feel so much better in myself now – than I have done in years; it’s been a great weight off my shoulders.”
At every twist and turn of women’s journeys away from abuse they are balancing the threats and risks against them with their own needs and plans and options. It is a constantly changing assessment, as she tries to assess what she needs and wants, against what she can find to help her.
Meanwhile, as she interacts with services and professionals, they may be carrying out formal assessments of her — and her children’s — safety and other needs.
However, current “Risk Assessment” tools are often not dynamic enough to deal with all these moving parts.
One aspect that is often under-recognised by service assessments and responses is how women’s location strategies — whether she is trying to stay put, remain local or go elsewhere — interact with their needs. The diagram below shows how levels of key needs for safety, wellbeing and resettlement vary according to the strategies women use.
Wellbeing is a constant need—women and children’s wellbeing will have been harmed by the abuse, and can be rebuilt by their own emotional labour, and supported by peer and specialist support in different contexts.
Other needs, however, interact strongly with the strategy a woman is attempting at any one time. If she is attempting to Stay Put, her safety needs will be very high, but her resettlement needs are low, as she and her children are staying in a familiar place. However, if she goes to an unknown and maybe distant place, her safety needs are massively reduced (and she will become ineligible for any risk-based support services) but her resettlement needs are greatly increased as she is literally safe but deeply displaced in a new area.
This shows the folly and injustice of eligibility criteria based solely on assessing level of risk—excluding women and children who are most in need of resettlement support. Women’s and children’s recovery will therefore take so much longer, with all the personal and economic costs, if they are left literally safe but isolated and stuck in terms of moving on from the abuse.
The interplay of different needs and strategies indicates the importance of holistic and dynamic responses to domestic violence, which build on women’s own responses and rights. A new open-access article published from this research includes much more detail[1].
[1] Bowstead, Janet C. 2021. “Stay Put; Remain Local; Go Elsewhere: Three Strategies of Women’s Domestic Violence Help Seeking.” Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence 6 (3): 4. doi:10.23860/dignity.2021.06.03.04. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol6/iss3/4/
Women and children’s journeys to escape abuse are often complex and multi-stage. From initially staying put, both the behaviour of the abuser and the support (or lack of support) of services and authorities may then force relocation.
Women’s help-seeking strategies may mean that they get the support and protection they need – involving a range of different services – or they might encounter closed doors, judgement and prejudice, lack of belief, misunderstanding, and service responses that make things worse.
This conference presentation video outlines the individuality of women’s domestic violence journey trajectories – as women try to get themselves and their children to a life free from abuse.
Video of conference presentation showing journey-graphs of women’s help-seeking strategies due to domestic violence revealing unique trajectories and ongoing housing insecurity.
The ongoing displacement is striking – both practically and emotionally – as is shown by the example of housing tenure, and ongoing housing insecurity.
These individual examples are taken from tens of thousands of domestic violence journeys – known and unknown to services and the state – and highlight the responsibilities on the state and those services to respond better: to journeyscape:
Through effective policies, laws, professional practice, and awareness
To build the infrastructure and map the terrain
To minimise the losses so women and children retain their rights and status
But not to determine the route that any woman takes
The principle should be that women – and their children – go as far as they need / stay as near as they can; and have a right to a life free from abuse.
