It’s nearly Christmas  2015 and we have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of people who have donated gifts for the women, young people and children who use our services. Thank you all for taking the time to donate to us. You will be bringing smiles to many faces this Christmas!

South Gloucestershire Council have been set the task of making savings across their budget, and have an incredibly difficult decision to make.

One option is to remove funding from the support services provided for victims of domestic abuse. This could include three refuges, thesupport line and face to face support.

We are asking the Council to retain these services and they want to hear your views. We strongly urge the Council to keep the funding for all domestic abuse services at the same levels for the following reasons:

• Since 2010 32 domestic abuse refuges have been closed across the UK.

• In the last year Survive in South Gloucestershire had 213applications for refuge.

• Due to limited spaces 174 of these women had to be turned away.

• In 2014/15, Survive’s support line took 1669 calls, which was a140% increase from the previous year.

• 754 adults were registered to Survive’s database in 2014/15.

• 1106 children were registered to Survive’s database in 2014/15.

• Our Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) had a total of 309 High Risk cases last year.

• In the last 3 years our A&E team has supported 368 victims, 162 of these from South Glos.

• The Children and Young People’s service at Survive has provided support to 36 parents (female) in refuge and 74 children.

To continue to prevent future homicides we need to maintain, if not increase, the investment in knowledge and specialist services which tackle domestic abuse.

We need to show the future generations of South Gloucestershire that we are not a community to turn the other way, but one which will tackle domestic abuse head on through support, awareness raising and education.

Please sign and share this petition if you agree that funding for domestic abuse services needs to be maintained at their current level.

Thank you for your support.

https://www.change.org/p/south-glos-council-ask-south-glos-council-to-keep-funding-domestic-abuse-services-and-refuges?recruiter=443490894&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=des-lg-no_src-no_msg 

As well as the lovely Ian Richmond running from his office to ours to raise awareness during Domestic Violence Awareness Week, he and his fellow Interactive Business Club (IBC) members took this picture with our CEO Sarah. Thank you for your support, IBC!

A huge Thank You to the Rolls-Royce Women’s Network (RRWN) for their fundraising car wash to raise awareness of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on the 27th November. All funds raised went to Survive.