Solace Women’s Aid is committed to elevating the voices of women and child survivors of domestic and sexual violence and regularly lobby government, local policy and decision makers to increase the safety of women and children and support their long term recovery.

 

As a major research project in the field Solace Women’s Aid and the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) at London Metropolitan University are tracking over 100 women over a three year period who have or are accessing one or more of our services to identify the short and longer term factors leading to re-settlement, safety and independence.

 

Hardly anything is known about how women and children who flee domestic violence rebuild their lives in the long term and the project has been funded by The Big Lottery and was set up specifically to explore this question.

What is known about the impact of domestic violence is based primarily on relatively short term experiences and it is unclear what happens next for women and children who flee violence. The research project is guided by a steering committee made up of policy makers, academics and service users who come together regularly to progress the 4 year project.

 

Last year service users of the project held a meeting with Lynne Featherstone MP, Equalities Minister, to directly share their experiences and concerns about the difficulties faced by women and children affected by domestic violence.