No rape and abuse charities anymore in the Highlands..Thanks Scottish Gov!!

[MerlinScot]

Hello everybody,

First, I hope I'm posting this in the right place. If that's not the case, I ask to admins and mods on mumsnet.com to move the thread where they think it'll fit properly.

Second, I received very bad news this morning. As very few of you already know, I suffered an ordeal after an ordeal due to the fact I reported rape after being raped multiple times by my ex boyfriend.
I was also denied any kind of counselling and therapy everywhere because, in few words there are no rape crisis centres from Aberdeen to the northest point of Scotland. So no therapy groups, no face-to-face counselling, nothing. Our only way to deal with abuse and rape is to phone or email these charities, sometimes to get some visits, not very often though because the few volunteers can't cope with all the people who are asking for help.
Now they want to strip us of the only chance we have to recover from what happened to us.

From October, any raped and abused woman in this area won't have any help and support because the Scottish Government, cutting 50% of these charities funding, will force them to close down. For people who are not familiar with Scotland's geography, the area of Scotland that'll be left without any support is about 10.316 square miles, an area as big as the whole US state of Massachusetts.

So I think it was good to open a petition in their favour. I post the link in case you'd like to sign it:
www.change.org/petitions/scottish-government-stop- cutting-the-50-of-funding-to-rape-and-abuse-charities

It's very important that we keep getting help and support from them because there are no official counselling services in the Highlands provided by NHS.
In few words, from October onwards, if we need support we'll have to pay for it, using private counselling and therapy.

That also means that nobody will do it (economy is very poor up here, mainly agriculture and tourism) and that will also cut down the rape reports.
Maybe that's how Scottish Government wants to solve the problem that there are only 3% of convictions after rape trials. It's worth noticing that only 10% of the rape reports gets to a trial.
Well, easily done... NO rape reports, NO hassle to convict rapists!

Thanks for your attention ladies.

Merl xx

[MerlinScot]

Sorry, the link didn't come out right: www.change.org/petitions/scottish-government-stop-cutting-the-50-of-funding-to-rape-and-abuse-charities

[GeekCool]

signed and shared on Fb. This is shocking. x

[ecclesvet]

Has the government explained why the funding is being cut? They still fund them under the Rape Crisis fund, so clearly they see them as a legitimately needy charity, but no longer out of the Violence Against Women fund... hmmm.

[yellowraincoat]

link

[yellowraincoat]

Thanks for posting, I have signed it.

[KRITIQ]

Yes, any idea why this particular service had funding cut? It would be helpful to know the context to work out other pressure points to try, other than a petition (as petitions sadly are often just ignored by decision-makers.

There seems to be a move during these times of budget cuts for many local authorities at least to take services "in house" rather than contracting third sector organisations to deliver them. It's a big hot potato because the rationale seems to be more about saving jobs and supposedly avoiding the "risks of contracting," without alot of genuine consideration about the impact on those the service is supposed to benefit.

Any links to info would be welcome. Ta muchly!

[MerlinScot]

Kritiq, ALL the services vital to abused and raped women will be forced to close down.
RAS Aberdeen, being a Rape Crisis Centre, is the most know of these services and that's the only one mentioned in the press yesterday.

Between the charities that will also face closure you can find New Futures Sutherland (which was helping youngsters and people with problems to gain self-confidence skills and employability skills), Scottish Women's Aid Caithness and Sutherland (which is worth noticing they're the only ones in all the Highlands who built a refuge for domestic abuse victims!!) and many others.
Why? Because the Scottish Government thinks they're NOT useful. They deem that the area doesn't need their help. This also probably based on the number of reports for DA and rape, without even taking into consideration that only 15% of the victims report!!!

And why should abused, beaten up and raped women report? I can assure you (personal experience) that the police has a laugh when you go to report someone, worse they blame the abuse or the rape on you and in many cases they file a report AGAINST the victim because she "dared" to waste their time.
(Not just personal experience, statistics too!).

So, if the Scottish Government members got their facts straight...maybe they would notice that these charities are a lot more useful than they think.

These volunteers help and support the 85% of victims that the Scottish Government likes TO IGNORE.

True that the petition are usually ignored but if we get some MP on our side plus the petition, that'll be great help!

Thanks to sign the petition ladies. This is a long way to go...

Merl xx

[Leithlurker]

Kritiq: If I may add to the pool of knowledge and help you and others to find the pressure points as you call them.

Firstly I saw a news report on BBC Scotland just a short piece no interview with ministers, workers, opposition party spokes people so fairly low key.What was stated was that the Scottish Government are putting money in to early intervention strategies and prevention????? Nope no idea what that means.

So some helpful points I hope.
The first thing the scottish government (The politicians I mean) will do when confronted about any change of a policy is to blame the westminster government for a general reduction in funds. This is easily challenged as it is still the scottish governments job to allocate the money so it is about setting priorities.

Next and perhaps the equivalent of a kick in the nuts to the SNP government is that they love to tell the country how as nationalists they are looking after the health and the wellbeing of the country far better and far more appropriately than any of the unionist parties have done, could do. This is both politicle but also a good deal of mythologising which the SNP supporters lap up. Any serious challenge to that assertion such as the SNP are anti women, or are cutting services to women in a much more harsh way than in the rest of the UK will certainly get their attention. Anne Beg is a labour MP and on the welfare committee of the house of parliament and MP for an aberdeen seat, she could be helpful. As well as all party support through the different committees of the Scottish Parliament.

[MerlinScot]

Leithlurker,

Thanks for your precious info!! We're trying to contact as many people as possible, abroad too. If the SNP and its politics are exposed abroad as sexist because they're cutting services to women, maybe that'll strike a chord, don't think anyone would like a government that wants the indipendence of a nation with the worst rape laws in the world and that considers acceptable to trash women's rights!

Survivors have a voice too and, as many others, I decided to use it.

Early intervention and prevention?? Rape isn't a disease, you can't prevent it!! Doing what?
My ex is a rapist who was let free, so he's also quite well free to abuse and rape any other woman who'll cross paths with him, that's how the law and the government prevent rape.
Honestly, I'm also in the majority of the victims who were raped by someone who wasn't prosecuted (it is estimated that only 10% of the rape reports get to a trial) so..should I complain?

I feel like we went back to dark ages.

[msrisotto]

This is awful. Thanks for posting Merlin.

[KRITIQ]

Thanks for that info. Do any of the organisations that are being cut also receive funding from the local authority? In at least one local authority area I know of, they stopped funding to the Women's Aid group, but took domestic violence services "in house" so now have a "team" of about 10 council employed staff, who by all accounts do a bit of a meh job, 9 - 5, Monday to Friday except bank holidays. I had wondered if the Highland councils were doing something similar, but it sounds as though this relates specifically to funds from the Scottish Government's "Violence Against Women" fund.

The linked spreadsheet on that page shows that Caithness & Sutherland Women's Aid and Rape Crisis in Aberdeen are funded for the current financial year (although it looks like New Futures Sutherland are funded from a different stream as they aren't on the list,) with a small cut in the amount of grant from last year. So, that sounds like part of the already agreed grant is being cut by 50% for the second half of the year.

Anyhoo, I'll make a few enquiries but just wanted to flag up that the Scottish Government will need to do (if they haven't) and Equalities Impact Assessment related to such a major funding/policy decision. www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/18507/EQIAtool There have just recently been some revisions to the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland as well.

Yvonne Strachan is head of the Equalities Unit in the Scottish Government. Anyone got her on speed dial?

Thanks again for the info.

[KRITIQ]

Just an afterthought, ministers in the Scottish Government DO seem to say "prevention and early intervention" every five minutes (as well as "early years,") and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing per se. For example, funding for most youth services in England has been completely swept away while support for children, young people and families is still "on the table" in Scotland, so to speak.

Funding for prevention of violence against women supports education and campaign groups like Women's Support Project and Zero Tolerance as well as the awareness raising activities and work in schools of other violence against women charities.

However, just as it would be pointless putting all the funds into early years prevention services and nothing in for child protection, there DOES of course have to be resourcing of services at the sharp end of rape, domestic abuse and other forms of gender based violence.

Basically, it doesn't HAVE to be one or t'other. Both are required in order to achieve what is supposed to be the Scottish Government's goal of a more fair and just society.

[MerlinScot]

Kritiq, thanks for posting that link!! I checked it this afternoon. Very useful info.
Concerning RAS Aberdeen, all the 50thousands £ were axed so? did they take their word back or what? I don't know.
I don?t see anything concerning the finance worker at CASWA, there?s something else mentioned but not the amount that will be cut. NF Sutherland told me about the government cuts but not clear if it?s the Highland Council funding them or directly the Scottish Government, they're not in the list.
Anyway, I don?t think there will be a change like the one you?re mentioning (taking the services in house) because

1. the Highland council is cutting funding everywhere so it won?t burden itself with more services that were cut by the government in the first place
   
2. at the moment NHS or the Highland council fund in a small percentage some of the counselling services here (drug and alcohol addiction, etc) and always avoided to fund the abuse and rape counselling services?mmm I doubt they?ll start now.
   
   Ouch no, I don?t have Yvonne Strachan on speed dial, unfortunately :(
   
   As concerning the prevention, no it?s not bad per se but it sounds quite meaningless for a couple of reasons.. the first one, like you said, is that putting all efforts in prevention and nothing in services after domestic violence and rape already happened isn?t a smart option. Second, is this prevention effective? Given what I read in the comments online and on the papers, there are even some people (girls and boys, women and men) mocking these campaigns. To give you an idea, I?ve had few ?friends? (although they became ?ex? friends as soon as I heard what they were thinking about rape and abuse issues ) saying ?oh well your ex was right, you were behaving like a bitch in the end? . Nobody deserves to be abused or raped, no matter what. So it seems that this prevention has been far from effective until now. Just my opinion, of course.

[KRITIQ]

Thanks for that Merlin. I'll have a chat with a colleague tomorrow who may be more "in the know" about this than I am and see what pops up. The more we can find out about what's behind it, the more chance there is of finding some way to halt it (slim though it may be.)

As for prevention, well there's lots of different things that come under that term. In a previous role, I was involved in some pretty expensive government-funded "awareness campaigns" (nothing related to women specifically and not in Scotland,) and insisted we evaluate the outcomes properly. Well, basically, they made people more aware of the "issue" for a wee while, but that fell off after just a few weeks and there was NO evidence that they led to any actual changes in behaviour. So, I'm really cynical about those kinds of prevention activities.

But, there are things that can be done for example within schools (like the pilot Mentors in Violence Prevention programme and the [[http://togetherwecanstopit.org/get-savi-resources/ Get Savi[[ for young people, led up by Scottish Women's Aid. Even further back along the chain, there's a helluva lot more that can be done at a very, very early age to challenge things like gender stereotypes and sexual bullying, to encourage healthy relationships, to encourage both boys and girls to unpick and not take at face value all those societal messages that sexualise and objectify girls and young women.

There's also other stuff to be done in building the confidence and resilience of girls who by their situations are perhaps most at risk of abuse and work to challenge boys on their misogynist perceptions of girls. That would al sort of fit into the "early intervention" kind of arena.

It shouldn't be an either/or situation though, just like there's no point in arguing whether the NHS should fund IVF or hip replacements, counselling services or hernia ops, etc. Violence against women and girls is endemic in Scottish society. The Government has the opportunity to turn that round, to show it takes the issue seriously and is willing to invest in effective services for survivors of abuse, treat perpetrators seriously in the criminal justice system AND take steps to prevent the next generation from falling into the same patterns of behaviour.

Well, just my thoughts! :)

[Leithlurker]

I would also not give up on trying to go the politicle pressure route, try contacting all msp's in the area, go see them not just email or phone. Take up to date stats, ask them to put a question to either first minister or justice secretery.

Another thought would be to contact other agencies even ones that have nothing to do with DV or abuse, people like mental health charities, or playgroups. The more noise you make the better, plus it has to be a wide base of support. Last for now do consider talking to as many charities as possible with a view to all coming together to fight all the cuts. Lots of groups feel isolated, you are fighting for one thing so that isolates you, others fighting for a swimming pool, or a childrens play park are isolated as they are fighting their battles. What counts is to gather this all up as it is about cuts to public funding being imposed on us, in some cases local authorities are even asking us to decide what gets cut. Send the message that if cuts are made then they take the blame and you will not forget like the others in their battles will not forget.

It worked here in Edinburgh we stopped privatisation of council services by joining together.

[MerlinScot]

Kritiq, thanks for your precious help, very much appreciated!! :)

Concerning the prevention, I completely agree with what you said, hoping it's get done in a serious and informative way. I've seen few campaigns and posters about rape awareness and I don't think they cover the issue in an appropriate way. Prejudice and rape myths are so difficult to eradicate.
Press doesn't help either. They refrain from publishing anything concerning rape and abuse cases or even, like in this case, rape and abuse charities.
They also publish loads of articles about police forces issuing statements that women should feel confident in reporting but they don't do anything to make it work.
I was shocked to learn, after my case was closed, that I wasn't the exceptional case in the north. Here, after many rape reports police turns on the victims, because the investigation didn't lead to any prosecution and so... police officers and detectives find a way to "charge" someone else to justify that taxpayers' money was spent for something!! In few words, many rape reports end up in trying to prosecute the victim for false allegations because police officers didn't investigate properly (totally shocking!). This also fuels the common prejudice that reporting a rape is like drinking water and most women lie about it. Without even thinking that if the rape reporting is so low it's also due to the fact women don't want to be prosecuted as liars. Given that a convicted rapist spends in jail less time that someone who perverted the course of justice (i.e. lying to the police), you do the math.

At the moment, someone started another petition (I think you can find the link on the RC Scotland website) to abolish the law of the corroborative evidence in Scotland. That would be a huge step in taking rape and DV cases seriously. DV cases convictions are treated in a purely ridiculous way, if the accused gets jailed is only for a short time and usually for "break of the peace", because I was explained that DV isn't a crime per se in Scotland (someone from SWA explained it to me).
For example, at the moment only 10% of rape reports go to a trial and only 1/3 of those cases see a rapist getting convicted. Most of the times, rapists who get convicted are serial rapists or rapists where the evidence was so huge that the jury couldn't ignore it. The percentage of rape convictions versus the one of rape reports is incredibly small. That's why it's so underreported too. A lot has to be done to change the system and how people perceive the rape and abuse issues.

Leithlurker, thanks for your help and suggestions too. I'll see what I can do, or who I can contact. Unfortunately therapy groups of any kind aren't so many in the north, usually they're about health problems or children related. And I agree with you that the more people are involved the better, but unfortunately in such remote areas the prejudice against raped and abused women is quite high, nobody wants to be "touched" by the issue. That's why women (like I had to) leave their houses and places after such an ordeal, they get isolated like they have the plague afterwards. I guess it'll be hard to convince anyone not involved directly in the issue to step out and fight against the cuts, but I'll try anyway.

Merl x

[KRITIQ]

To be honest, I think any efforts are worth the efforts. Sometimes a "pincer" movement from different angles can have the most effect. I agree with Leithlurker - there is so much to be gained by voluntary and community organisations standing together when faced with a challenge that threatens even just some of them. But, I worry that at the moment, with all the economic austerity and organisations, struggling for dwindling pots of funds, there seems to be less appetite for collaboration. But, it's the time we need to work together the most.

I agree it can be dodgy working with the media on issues related to gender based violence. Much depends on the reporter - you'll get a few willing to stick their neck out to "champion" such causes, but most of the time, they are looking for an "angle" that will sell papers. They don't want to frighten the horses, either (hence the very coy terms used to describe say cases where men kill their partners and children, where they go all guns blazing on other murder cases, especially where the perpetrator "fits" the profile of someone they like to villify.) Anyhow, will keep you posted on anything I hear. Take good care and hang on in there!

[Leithlurker]

Merl, I would be holding off on your pessimism there, I know the distance and the different community dynamics in rural areas are more tricky and all the more kudos to you for being so public much harder than in a huge city. However, even the rural north east is stuffed with people even some surprising people who will "get" exactly what your saying and why.

I have worked in the voluntarily sector for years admittedly not in an isolated area like yours, but by and large the people who work in the sector do so as they are more open to see connections between people and are more ready to accept that your issues do impact on their work. Maybe Kritiq will agree I do not know, but I agree with them when she says that some of the reason you may meet resistance is that people are being forced to hunker down and keep their mouths shut out of fear around funding. The two solutions to that are to firstly get allies who have no funding issues, ordinary people like yourself. Have a public meeting, organise a talk in a library. Do a petition.
Then take that proof of support to charities and local groups and say to them "you can stand up and be counted on this as you have public support and the more support there is the less likely that any one is to be singled out and targeted"

Kritiq if I may ask what work do you do that you are able to talk to fellow workers about, if thats too personal for here I understand.

[MerlinScot]

Leithlurker, thanks for your suggestions!! :) Yeah I guess I was being a bit of a pessimist there, maybe having seen what's happened to me and others in the last 6 months discouraged me a bit. Mmm... I'll try to find people who have no funding issues, although it seems that various sectors are affected by the cuts. I've a public hall nearby, I might try to organise a tea and coffee with homebaking, maybe someone is interested in supporting the petition...

It would also be important to get other victims and survivors to speak out but I've to admit it has been the hardest task, I couldn't contact any. I've a meeting with a lady from CASWA in 2 days, maybe we could organise some meetings.

Kritiq, thanks for keeping me posted!! :)

[MerlinScot]

sorry, there's a mistake in the previous post, meant to say "I couldn't contact any rape and DV victims or survivors locally".

[KRITIQ]

Just wanted to pop back. My colleague hadn't heard about the funding cut to the groups, so I can't shed any more light on the situation I'm afraid. It's still worth pursuing all the avenues suggested above. I'll let you know if I hear anything else. It's a mystery.

(I don't want to completely out myself, but I've been involved in the women's sector and feminist campaigns for geez, probably 25 years now in various parts of the UK. I still keep a close interest!) :)

[MerlinScot]

Kritiq, thanks for your help and support anyway!!

The funny thing about Scotland and U.K. is that supposedly we're in the same country but in many cases it seems like we aren't :D It's like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand does ;)

I'm not surprised your friend didn't know anything about it, few Scottish people know about it too.

Well, that's great you've been so involved in women's sector and feminist campaigns!! North of the border feminist will start being a swear word in a while... if you've a look at the comments on the Scotsman online or The Herald, you'd shudder at the complete lack of respect to feminists and supporters of women's rights. I've to admit I couldn't imagine that the country I'm living in is so disrespectful towards women. I'll keep that in mind before going to vote next time.

[MerlinScot]

@Kritiq, I met two ladies from CASWA yesterday (they're the only ones up here doing support to rape and DV victims). It seems like they've to meet with boards and staff few times before the end of the year (of course less funding always means part of the staff has to go home) but they'll probably make it then, yay!! :)

I already edited the petition text :)

[MsAnnTeak]

I've looked out the funding tables for Scotland 2012/2015 (unsure if they have been amended)

www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/violence-women/VAWFund2012-15/ViolenceAgainstWomenfunding2012-2015

[cupcake78]

I don't understand why this area is so underfunded as it is.1 in 4 women affected! Its a travesty!