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Letter from the Chief Executive
Welcome to The Haven Wolverhampton’s Christmas Newsletter! As ever, our focus is on children – the hidden victims of family breakdown caused by Domestic Violence.Currently (30/10/07), The Haven is supporting 42 children within our refuge accommodation and 139 in the community. The Floating Support team supports women and children in the community who have moved on from abusive relationships; however, there is no funding available to support the extremely vulnerable children in these families, struggling to recover from their tragic experiences. Many of the children - although not all - require specialist support via counselling. Whilst there are some services available within the City, provided by committed Voluntary Sector providers, the provision of such services still falls well below the level required to meet the true level of need. On the 8th August, a visit took place to the Croydon Family Justice Centre. Family Justice Centres locate Statutory and Voluntary Agencies in one place, so that they may work together more efficiently to improve the lives of those experiencing Domestic Violence, both through legal and non-legal means. In the UK, survivors are supported as their cases proceed through the Criminal Justice System. Locating advocacy support and legal advice in a single location reduces the number of statement retractions by victims and increases perpetrator prosecution rates. The visit was informative and very inspiring. Recently, members of The Haven (including myself!) travelled to Russia, and a party of Uzbek delegates visited The Haven – for full details, please see our International insert. Over the previous months, The Haven has continued to be actively involved in a number of strategic meetings, as we work hard to keep Domestic Violence and Homelessness high on everyone’s agenda. Our input has been added to the Voluntary Sector Strategy (currently being reviewed by the Local Authority) and the Compact Codes of Practice (concerning Funding, Procurement and Commissioning, Homeless Strategy, Move-on Accommodation, Information-Sharing Processes, etc.). We look forward to the re-opening of one of our hostels after the completion of refurbishment work, carried out by housing and regeneration group Midland Heart. We propose to hold our second Stakeholder’s Day, which will again provide the opportunity for our Stakeholders and Partners to ask questions about The Haven’s work and to be updated on how the delivery of services within the organisation has been affected by recent changes in legislation, etc. You will be able to find our more in the next edition of our Newsletter! A training event, “Violence Against Women: Tackling The Impact on Life Chances” will be hosted by the The Haven’s Training Team on 22nd November 2007, open to all – tickets cost £55. Standard and bespoke training packages on Domestic Violence and associated issues are also available, for individuals or organisations – for more information about any of these, please contact Alison on 01902 572128. Please accept my grateful thanks to you all for the support that you give The Haven now and throughout the year. On behalf of the The Haven Board Members, Staff and Volunteers, we wish you a peaceful Christmas and New Year. Kath Rees
Penn Hostel, currently closed for refurbishment, is nearing completion, and will re-open soon. As before, it will again house single women with complex needs. A new Alcohol Dependency Family Support Worker will be employed to coordinate the support for residents of Penn with alcohol dependency needs. Staff from Pearl House and Floating Support were involved in a celebration at The Lighthouse for World Mental Health Day; they also celebrated with the residents later on in the hostel. This event enabled important links to be established by the Co-ordinator of Pearl and her team of staff so that external services can be accessed as required, ensuring that all support needs of the women and children at Pearl are met. Honor House is to close as a refuge when Penn re-opens; we will continue to provide 46 units of accommodation by maintaining spaces for 3 families with very low support needs at Chown. Resettlement will continue to have a base at Chown, where we also intend to develop an area for the storage and collection of donations. Michaila Tope
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Carver Wolverhampton City Marathon 2007 Congratulations to Haven staff Maureen, Tina, Gloria, Eileen, Lerlene and Haven volunteer Judith, who relayed through the marathon, raising £250 for The Haven Wolverhampton. Well done!
The Haven Wolverhampton supports the local women’s networking group Women Organising in Wolverhampton (WOW) to fulfil the requirements of the ‘Women’s Communities of Interest’ fund (run by the Wolverhampton Network Consortium). The Haven is responsible for Website Development, Newsletters and Contact Database development. The website (currently in a draft version) can be found at www.wowonline.org.uk. The official launch of the website is planned for the 22nd November, during the Haven training event “Violence against women: Tackling the impact on life chances” (open to all - phone 01902 572 128 for more details). Gursharan Bassi
Can you help us to make a difference to the lives of women and children accessing The Haven Wolverhampton? Projects in need of support include:
Children at The Haven Wolverhampton have been losing out, donations have been left uncollected and maintenance at our various sites has been increasingly difficult since our somewhat ancient mini-bus was stolen back in April. It is a mystery as to why anyone would want to steal such a vehicle, but the impact is clear – workers and volunteers at The Haven Wolverhampton have had to work harder and spend far more time in trying to skid round the fact that our organisation no longer has its sole means of transport. Thanks to their hard work, the impact of this theft has been minimised, but we have shifted up a gear in our efforts to raise funds for a new bus. The Summer Play Programme Entertaining 72 children can be a costly task! Without your support, our children will be unable to participate in outdoor trips and activities. Hostel Refurbishment Another of our hostels is undergoing major refurbishment to bring it up to standard. Your support, however small, will help to make it a more of a home! Could you organise an event on our behalf? I’d love to hear from you! Are you taking part in a sponsored event? Would you like to? If you can support women and children at The Haven, or would like any more information on donations and fundraising, please contact Ros Ward, Appeals and Fundraising Officer, on 01902 572 146 or e-mail publicity@havenrefuge.org.uk Recycle your Printer Cartridges Send your printer cartridges to The Haven, where we can use them in a scheme which will convert them into cash to help support our many active projects. Text Donations Domestic Violence affects 1 in 4 women in their lifetimes, and almost 1 million children in the UK. Give £1.50 now by texting ‘HAVEN’ to 84010, and help us to support women and children – victims of Domestic Violence Thank You THANK YOU SO MUCH to all our supporters, who continue to support our various seasonal appeals – at Christmas, for International Women’s Week, the Easter Egg Appeal, our Summer Play Programme, Half Term Activities Appeal and our Harvest Festival Appeal. Without YOUR efforts, we as an organisation would be unable to deliver the professional services required by women and children throughout their recovery from the effects of Domestic Violence. Please continue to support our everyday activities which so enrich the lives of those seeking refuge at our safe Haven – your support is always greatly appreciated! |
