Safe Haven's Mission is to help women and their children escape domestic abuse, and to empower, guide, and support them to lead the life they were meant to lead. Central to this is the ability to offer community-based, temporary accommodation in the homes of our generous and caring Host Families around Australia.
Our most recent placement was a referral from social workers at a local hospital for a young mum and her 13 year old daughter. The Daughter had been admitted as a result of the unrelenting stress and anxiety of an abusive home. Staff at the hospital were reluctant to discharge the young girl unless more favourable accommodation could be found and so the social workers there contacted Safe Haven.
Thanks to a lovely Host Family, we placed mum and her daughter in the northern suburbs of outer Brisbane. Mum was so grateful she cannot believe her good fortune at being placed in such a lovely home. "We can actually breathe again", she said. Adding, "My Daughter is smiling. I feel we can move forward from here and get a better life"
When we last checked in on our wonderful Hosts, they reported both Mum and her Daughter were delightful and doing well. They were about to head out for a drive in the country to buy some chickens and stop at a café for some lunch while out.
Since then we've provided a letter of support and helped mum locate other, longer-term accommodation. With effort and a bit of luck, we hope mother and daughter will be in their new home soon.
This is how the women and their children who seek assistance with Safe Haven Community are treated, with dignity, empathy and kindness. Women who we are able to place in Community homes are literally Guests of their Host family, and our overwhelming experience is, they are treated as such.
Please think about lending your support to Safe Haven Community so we can continue to provide safe, caring and supported accommodation where ever and when ever it is needed. You can do this by registering your spare room. While we do have Host families all over Australia, we always need more due to the varying needs of the women seeking our assistance. Stays are only short-term, usually around 4 to 6 weeks.
There are more details about Room Registration on our website or you can find out more by calling 1800 042 836 and talk to our friendly staff.
If you don't have a room but you'd still like to help, you can easily get involved in other ways:
Become a regular donor to Fiver 4 A Survivor
Volunteer to help with Court Support or other activities
Get behind The World's Biggest Dinner Party
Donate to our Safe House Project.
(Photo is indicative and not of any women or children in our community)
