25th February 2015
You may have noticed some changes around here as we moved over from Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse to SafeLives.
But why did we change? Firstly, it was because Caada was hard to say and spell, and given that was what most people called us, it didn’t really explain what we do.
But more importantly, calling ourselves SafeLives tells the world what we’re all about. Nothing more, and nothing less, than every family being safe from domestic abuse.
Our ambition is clear in our new strapline – ending domestic abuse. It’s always been our mission, and now we’ve put it front and centre. It may take some time, but we won’t stop until every family is safe.
For the medium-term, our goal is unchanged: in the coming three years, we want to halve the number of families living with domestic abuse.
For the last ten years, Caada focussed on improving the response for just high-risk victims specifically. High-risk abuse is the most dangerous kind: it’s women (and some men) living with a very high likelihood of murder or serious harm. There are 100,000 victims in this situation – living every day in fear, suffering violence and abuse. And it’s 130,000 children, watching the people they love being terrorised – and often being directly abused themselves.
And we’ve had considerable success. Every area now has a Marac, a meeting of all the right professionals working together to make victims safe. And most high-risk victims are supported by an Idva – a domestic violence specialist who works 1-2-1 with the victim, listening to her and putting together a tailored plan to make her safe. In 2005, when we started, just 500 women got this sort of specialist service. Last year, it was more than 70,000. And 2 in 3 victims who’ve got help this way tell us the abuse stops.
But to have a bigger impact and stop more families being abused, we realised that we need to do more.
That’s why we changed to SafeLives. It expresses our ambition – and our new wider remit.
We want to change the system for every victim, at every level of risk, and for their children too. We need a whole system change – not just isolated interventions, and a postcode lottery.
So, starting now, SafeLives will work for all victims, at all levels of risk, and their children. And we will work out how to change perpetrators’ behaviour too.
It’s a big job. Our job is to find out what works – and what doesn’t. Then we’ll turn it into a programme that you can pick up off the shelf, modify for your area, and roll-out easily, knowing that it’s based on evidence. Over time, we’ll transform the whole response to domestic abuse in every area of the UK.
It’ll take a while (we think at least ten years). But we’re up for it. And, as you’d expect, we’ll do it in partnership with everyone who, like us, is passionate about ending domestic abuse.
It’s time to create the system that works for every victim, and every child. SafeLives is all about making sure all families become safe, and stay safe in the long-term.
There’s an interesting few years ahead. We hope you’ll join us on the journey.
