Action against Domestic Violence

Partnership with NAtional Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV)

In 2017, the Cottman Foundation jointly announced with NCDV a partnership to raise funds towards the service of injunctions on perpetrators of domestic violence. Below is a brief explanation of why this money is so desperately needed:

                   - 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence in their lifetime

                   - 1 incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute

                   - on average 2 women a week are killed by their current or former partner

                   - 54% of rapes are committed by a woman's current or former partner

                   - domestic violence is the single most quoted reason for women becoming homeless

The NCDV provides an emergency injunction service to survivors of domestic violence. However, it receives no funding from the government and there is a funding gap in that many women who do not qualify for legal aid, simply do not have the funds to serve the injunctions on the perpetrators once they have been through the court process. If the injunction is not served, it has no legal effect and the victim benefits from no protection at all. Once the injunction is served any breach of its terms will, in most cases, result in immediate arrest of the perpetrator.

Many women choose to drop out of the process once they cannot find the funds and return to a life of violence and suffering. The Cottman Foundation is committed to doing what it can to plug that gap and has committed to fund women who would otherwise not have benefited from any legal protection. The funds raised towards this project will make a direct and real impact on the lives, and safety, of these women and often their children too.

The Cottman Foundation intends for this to be just the start of a long partnership with NCDV during which many more victims will be helped. To support this project, please donate here.

PARTNERSHIP WITH REFUGE

As is evident from the domestic violence statistics cited above, far too many women are faced with the threat, or, more often, reality, of domestic violence. In many cases, those women (and often their children) require emergency accommodation and assistance. Refuge opened the world's first safe house for women and children escaping domestic violence in Chiswick, West London, in 1971. Today, it is the country's largest single provider of specialist domestic violence services. On any given day, Refuge supports more than 4,500 women, children and men.

Of course, all of these services come at a cost and often the victims of domestic violence either do not have the funds or, in many cases, are prevented from accessing their own funds by the same perpetrators of the violence towards them. The Cottman Foundation has agreed a funding plan with Refuge and intends to raise funds to meet the initial costs of emergency accommodation for as many of these victims as it can. Please support the Foundation in its aims, by donating here.