text: Family Law Week: Women's Aid marks International Women's Day by emphasising the worrying state of refuge provision
  To mark International Women's Day, national charity Women's Aid is joining the Global Network of Women's Shelters to release the results of the '2011 Global Data Count' alongside its own unique 'Day to Count 2011' and '2011 Annual Survey of Domestic Violence Services', to help highlight the worrying situation for women and children experiencing domestic violence and the severe lack of and threat to local specialist provision.
  Women's Aid says that across the world, on just one day, 56,308 women and 39,130 children sought refuge from domestic violence at women's shelters around the world. Of these 3,410 women and 3,720 children were resident in a refuge in England.
  Of those who contacted a local shelter, at least 7,608 women and 4,734 children were turned away. Women's Aid's 'Day to Count' in England showed that 320 of these women could not be accommodated in at least one of the refuges they approached, usually simply due to lack of space. The charity says that given the drastic cuts to specialist service provision that has been witnessed across the country, this number is highly likely to rise in 2012.
  Women's Aid added that concerns were echoed many times over across the country and reflect the findings of the impact of cuts in public expenditure report commissioned by the Trust for London and Northern Rock Foundation and released at Women's Aid's AGM on 1st February this year.
  The Women's Aid survey found that between April 1st 2010 to March 31st 2011 member services helped 137,160 women and 43,280 children through refuge, outreach and other non-refuge-based services. It is feared that this is just the tip of iceberg and does not include Women's Aid online support or callers to the 24hour National Domestic Violence Helpline run in partnership between Women's Aid and Refuge.