THE coronavirus pandemic has made life “particularly difficult and dangerous” for women and children experiencing domestic abuse, according to a new report.
The research from Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) found that the pandemic has resulted in “increased risks of harm” for them and made seeking help more difficult.
For women experiencing domestic abuse and still living with their abuser, lockdown meant spending extended periods of time confined at home with them and little opportunity to call supportive family, friends or organisations. Children were left without their usual safe spaces during school closures.
The new report, based on surveys of SWA’s 36-member service providers in June 2020, found the pandemic has had huge impacts on refuge accommodation, child contact and access to justice.
The charity is calling for “urgent action” to tackle the problems.
Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of SWA, said: “For women, children and young people experiencing domestic abuse, the pandemic has been particularly difficult and dangerous.
“Our 36 local Women’s Aid groups have responded with a degree of speed, dedication and innovation that is to be commended – especially given that they have done so in the face of difficulties that very often could have been avoided.
“As lockdown and other measures ease, we are expecting a substantial increase in demand for services. Urgent action is required by the Scottish Government, the judiciary and local authorities to remedy the problems we’ve set out in this new report and to facilitate effective service provision.
“Better planning is also needed so that, if lockdown measures continue to be required going forward, previous problems affecting domestic abuse service providers and survivors will not be repeated.”
The research found that pandemic-related safety measures have decreased emergency refuge spaces, and many local Women’s Aid groups report that the need for refuge is far outstripping capacity.
The report said that many local authorities and housing associations stopped allocating new homes during lockdown, often meaning that children and women in refuges had no place to move on to.
Abuses of child visitation and contact arrangements were seen across many regions, while handovers for child visits have also become increasingly dangerous for women and children experiencing domestic abuse.
The report said that changes to the criminal justice system, such as the increased use of undertakings and bail, have resulted in greater risks to women whose abusers might ordinarily have been remanded in custody.
It also warned that the backlog of cases resulting from courts closures will have an ongoing and debilitating effect on women’s access to justice.
The charity said that the early injection of funding from the Scottish Government helped Women’s Aid groups across the country to rapidly transform their services to continue providing support during the pandemic.
However, it said that inconsistent applications of Scottish Government guidance by different local authorities caused immense challenges for groups in obtaining key-worker status, personal protective equipment and accessing school spaces for the children of the all-female workforce.
It has made a number of recommendations, including calling for an urgent review of specialist refuge accommodation to ensure sufficient provision, action by schools to support children with experience of domestic abuse and the use of virtual courts to reduce waiting times.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here