Thousands of Perth women and children left to face danger as refuges overflow amid DV crisis

Almost 1300 domestic violence victims were turned away from just four WA refuges in the first half of the year. The alarming statistic is believed to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the real numbers of women and children being left out in the cold. And when a bed is freed up — centres are inundated with desperate requests from those fleeing abuse. An investigation by The West Australian has found a system buckling under the weight of increasing demand and insufficient funding. The sector has welcomed an extra $18.7 million from the State Government — to be shared across 45 refuges — but advocates say more needs to be done. WA’s oldest refuge, Nardine, was forced to reject more than a dozen highly vulnerable women the week of November 18. It’s a familiar case at another Perth refuge, Indigo Junction, who turn away between 400 to 500 women every month. Beds set aside for women deemed in imminent danger of death are full every night, with overflow lodged in motel and hotel rooms. They’re women experiencing the most extreme cases of family violence in WA — often with children in tow — who have nowhere left to turn. Women going back to their abuser or sleeping in cars is common. Mother-of-three Caroline*, who asked to use a pseudonym, was one of many who entered a refuge wide-eyed and traumatised. Beaten while seven-months pregnant and psychologically abused for years, Caroline said she reached the darkest point in her life when she decided to flee with her then four-day-old son and two boys aged under 12. In a haze of shame, confusion and hurt, Caroline told The West of the moment she was left alone in her allocated room at the shelter as surreal. “I remember walking in with my newborn and my two boys, thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ I had worked so hard. I’d never had help,” she said. “I worked hard make sure my kids have everything. You build a house for your kids to feel safe, but it wasn’t safe to go there.” “In the last three years the physical abuse got worse.” She described the history of violence as horrific; multiple chokings, being kicked on the floor and held down with a knee on her chest were just some of the abuse. A man she had thought of as her “high school sweetheart” became her hell as the years wore on. All the while she tried to conceal it from family and friends. Caroline recalled running to hide in the bathroom while on the phone to a friend. She had heard everything, yet Caroline made excuses for him as he attempted to beat the door down. “You just block it out and keep going and hope things will get better,” she said. His verbal or physical attacks could spark from a toy being left on the floor or the bin not being taken out. “He was controlling in every aspect. It was just 24/7. Where I was, what I was doing, who I was with. “If you were at work in a meeting and you didn’t answer the phone, you’d just get abused.” When she was at court getting a restraining order, she walked out to find his car parked near hers. “He always said ‘I will find you, no matter what’,” she said. After she left, he tried to hack into her accounts and ask friends where she was. Even in jail, he breached restraining orders to write letters to the children with messages directed at her. He pleaded guilty to the abuse but only after his 12-year-old son later gave a police statement against him. Caroline wanted to share her identity publicly but has recently applied for child support and fears for her and her children’s lives. More than a dozen sector workers have told The West of the horror cases they’ve been faced with and the tragic consequences of systemic failures they see firsthand. Many like Caroline who come to refuges have been beaten, raped, and controlled by the person they once loved the most. And those seeking support are thought to be just the tip of the iceberg of the insidious issue — often only reaching out at the most extreme point of abuse. On average it takes seven attempts for a victim to leave. A recent review by Zonta House Refuge Association found alarming rates of abuse, including physical assault, sexual assault, and threats to life. Sixty per cent of those seeking help said the perpetrator had tried or threatened to kill them, while 21 per cent said their abuser had access to firearms or prohibited weapons. More than 30 per cent had either harmed or had threatened to harm or kill children or other family members. And 29 per cent reported a child having been in the victim’s arms when they were attacked. The violence had become worse or more frequent for 85 per cent when they had fled, and 47 per cent of perpetrators had choked, strangled or suffocated the victim or attempted to do so. More than a third had been raped or sexually assaulted by their perpetrator. Only 12 per cent of the women who accessed their shelter officially reported their experience and only 10 per cent had applied for restraining orders. The violence is also evolving, with technology-facilitated abuse soaring and becoming a growing challenge for sector staff to keep up with. And if it’s not online, multiple shelters reported perpetrator attempts to get into their facilities — one so persistent he tried to climb through the roof to get to his victim. Women are also needing to stay in refuges longer because of the dire housing crisis causing a bottleneck for those needing to transition into long-term safe homes. Staff also flagged a rise in complexities and demand from culturally and linguistically diverse clients. Indigo Bell’s FDV manager Janine Bell is one of the sector’s many under-resourced staff exhausted and heartbroken from frequently telling victims, “unfortunately, we’re at capacity”. Staff in the sector are increasingly under-resourced, burnt out and underpaid. There’s no danger pay bonus like other frontline service professionals despite the high-risk and highly traumatising situations they’re put in and deal with. Staff are calling for more specialised training, funding, positions, and coordination across the sector to better support victims and address challenges. A State Government spokeswoman said it was committed to supporting women and children escaping violence. “We have invested more than $470 million in this space since 2017. In that time, we have added 73 new refuge units across the State, with a further 77 units in the pipeline, representing an increase of more than 30 per cent,” she said. Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing chief executive Dr Alison Evans says it’s essential that all victim-survivors get the full support they need when they need it. “Safe and just outcomes just depend on it,” she says. ‘We welcome the State Government alleviating some of the pressures of the housing crisis on refuges by increasing funding for mobile outreach services. “This makes an important difference, but we must be looking at sustainable, longer-term housing solutions for women and children experiencing domestic and family violence. “A focus on investment across prevention, early intervention, crisis response and recovery and healing that matches the sheer scale of the problem we are facing will ensure the success of the important Family and Domestic Violence System Reform Plan.” Support is available from 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.