Last year 135 women and 70 children stayed at the Women’s Shelter for a longer or shorter period of time. Furthermore, 240 women visited the shelter for an interview.

The good news is that 86% of women did not return home to the abuser, hence the percentage of women returning to the same violent situation has never been lower in the history of the Women’s Shelter.

The bad news is that the „system“ seems to be failing women and children; half of the women feared for their lives (49%), the police had been involved in 37% of the cases, 12% had pressed charges and only a quarter of those cases made it to court.

During the time period when the women visited the shelter for an interview or to stay there, over 270 children under the age of 18 lived at the home where domestic violence had taken place. In 44% of those cases the woman knew that child protection services had been informed of that fact, however only 27% of the children had received any form of assistance because of the violence in their home. The form of assistance was perhaps one interview with a consultant or the opportunity for the child to speak to one of their schools’ member of staff. Majority of the children exposed to violence in their homes had not received any assistance, even if it has been known for a long time that witnessing domestic violence is not less harmful for children as being directly abused.