A charity that helps domestic abuse victims in Lincolnshire had an average of more than five referrals every day in the last financial year, its been revealed.
Between April 2020 and March 2021, EDAN (End Domestic Abuse Now) Lincs received requests for help for 1,997 individuals, 343 of whom were children, the organisation’s AGM was told.
Of those, 1,016 were identified with mental health issues as a result of their experiences, the charity says.
The number of referrals is up from the 2019-20 referrals in 10 of the 12 comparative months.
EDAN Lincs says the early indications are that 2021-22 will see even higher referrals with greater numbers than previously in April, May and June of this year, the latest data shows.
This year also marks the first that children within a domestic abuse household are counted as victims in their own right following the passing of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
A spokesman for EDAN, said: “Our team received 343 referrals (March 2020 to April 2021) for support for children, young people and their families.
“We offer support to them either by delivering family focus or one-to-one sessions. Support has had to be adapted as schools were closed and we could no longer always able to deliver the sessions there.
“Our refuges offer safe spaces for those who have fled domestic abuse and enable them to access support at a critical time in their lives and that of their children’s.
“We can accommodate up to 21 families and we kept our refuges open and full throughout lockdowns and beyond.
“We have faced obstacles in accessing other services, such as applying for grants for white goods, or gaining one-to-one specialist support, such as accessing mental health services.
“During the pandemic we have still ensured that residents and their children have had activities to do and ample support.”
EDAN has a number of refuge homes for families, and is currently fundraising for one to be redecorated.
Fundraising coordinator Anna Davis said: “We have just had an emergency in one of the refuges where there has been a dramatic damage to one of our units and all the carpets need to be replaced as well as walls redecorated.
“It’s also one of our largest units and we have another family coming in soon, we never stay empty, so we need to act quickly.
“We also desperately need a bunk bed and we don’t have funds for redecorating this apartment as it has only recently been redecorated. Unfortunately things like this happen and we are appealing for any support we can get. We have a small fundraiser running on Facebook.”
The fundraiser can be accessed here.
