11th January 2015
This content originally appeared on Diana Barran's blog in January 2015 and reflected her views at the time. Caada is the previous name of SafeLives.
As we get closer to the next election, the pressure to present the case for funding specialist domestic abuse services gets ever more pressing. There have begun to be some of the ‘either/or’ arguments sneaking into the debate. I think that there are three problems with this line of thinking.
Firstly, we must not forget that domestic abuse remains one of the most under-funded sectors in this country. We started CAADA when several charities working in the children’s sector told me that domestic abuse was the biggest human problem in this country that was the hardest to raise money for. Things have improved since then but there is still a long way to go. The ‘either/or’ argument loses sight of the reality which is ‘not enough’. We need the services we have. We need them to be delivered to a high standard and in strong partnerships.
Secondly, the either/or argument risks some muddled thinking. For example, there is some talk of ‘either’ early intervention ‘or’ working with high risk cases. Actually, our data shows that we reach high risk victims earlier than medium or standard risk. But clearly we need to try and respond to all levels of risk. There is the ‘either’ refuge ‘or’ community based provision question. Women and children need both. Or ‘either’ MARAC ‘or’ MASH’. Again, a misunderstanding about how they work and what families need.
Finally, ‘either/or’ stifles innovation. I would be tempted to say that there is no one working in our sector who thinks that we have all the answers. If there someone out there, shout loudly. ‘Yes, and…’ encourages us to aim higher and build on what we know works today but develop it still further as well as look at other sectors too and learn from their work.
So, please, let’s look at a ‘yes, and’ model rather than an ‘either/or’ one. As pressures on funding increase further, let’s use our creativity to reconfigure and improve our response – building domestic abuse into services more broadly so that we multiply the impact of what we spend today rather than step back to an ever more siloed approach which won’t make families safer.
