Specialist family violence service Shine is appealing for public support to help meet an expected 30% surge in demand over the festive season on top of already high demand.
PSN Social Services GM Grenville Hendricks says last week Shine received 16 referrals in three days including some from other family violence agencies and the Police.
“There is already enormous pressure on family violence services and we are a month away from Christmas. We are expecting the need for support to rise 30% over the Christmas holiday season as mums try to look after their children and reduce the impact of the other parent’s violence.
“Women are being controlled, financially restricted and abused by their partners. The cost of living crisis, fewer foodbanks and less food grants mean that they and their children need more help with basic necessities like food and transport. People have to leave everything behind to escape their partner and frequently arrive at our refuges with no money and very few possessions. That’s why we’re calling for public support to help us help as many women and their children as we can.”
Last Christmas, Rose* contacted Shine in fear for her life as her extremely violent ex-partner was trying to track her down despite her and her children moving to the opposite side of the city to try to escape him. Rose told us she needed somewhere secure to stay and hoped we could help.
While Rose and her children were with us, Shine worked with them to support their priorities and hopes for their future. We helped them make their own safety plans and were able to offer support, such as referrals to counselling, applying for a loan for a car and finding rental accommodation.
We gave Rose and her children a food hamper and presents so they could celebrate Christmas together with dignity.
It is our privilege to support Rose by giving options for her and her children. We want to honour their survival and resistance to the violence they experienced and give them back some of the choices that were taken away from them by their violent family member.
Shine also supports children who have been impacted by family violence through our KIDshine programme. KIDshine worked with almost 300 parents and children in the last financial year.
Grenville Hendricks says Shine is seeing more severe and complex family violence cases. There have been a growing number of serious assaults with weapons including knives and machetes, and strangulations that result in hospitalisation. There have also been a higher number of assaults occurring in front of children.
Shine’s helpline answered more than 10,000 calls in the past year. A growing number of these were from neighbours and support people calling about someone they are worried about.
Grenville Hendricks says everybody deserves to be safe, but the reality is the women and children Shine works with are in dangerous situations, especially over the Christmas season.
To donate to the Shine Christmas appeal visit: www.2shine.org.nz/get-involved/donate
* name changed to protect privacy.