National Domestic Abuse 3rd Party Reporting Project

One Voice 4 Traveller's works with women and girls from Gypsy, Traveller, and Roma community who are victims and survivors of domestic abuse and their families.

We encourage women and girls to report incidents of abuse, both current and previous abuse.
 

We work with GTR women and girls to better understand the types and levels of abuse and to recognise when they may be entrapped in a circle of abuse and help them make informed choices such as making a personal safety plan to escape abuse.

We work alongside other GTR groups, organisations, and partners to help raise awareness of the impact of abuse on family lives.

What is abuse:

• Physical (includes assault, hitting, slapping, pushing, kicking, misuse of medication,

  being locked in against their will)

• Psychological (includes 'emotional abuse' and takes the form of threats of harm or

  abandonment)

• Financial or material (includes theft, fraud, internet scamming, coercion in relation to an adult's financial)

• Sexual (including rape, indecent exposure, sexual harassment, inappropriate looking or touching)

• Coercion and control (include preventing the individual from seeing parents/extended family, refusing to allow contact with other members of the GTR community or friends, social isolation

Coercive or controlling behaviour is a core part of domestic violence and abuse and can include:

• acts of assault, threats, humiliation, and intimidation

• harming, punishing, or frightening the person

• isolating the person from sources of support

• the exploitation of resources or money

• preventing the person from escaping abuse

• regulating everyday behaviour.

Possible indicators of domestic violence or abuse:

• Low self-esteem

• Feeling that the abuse is their fault when it is not

• Physical evidence of violence such as bruising, cuts, broken bones

• Verbal abuse and humiliation in front of others

• Fear of outside intervention

• Damage to home or property

• Isolation – not seeing friends and family

• Limited access to money

This project aims to support women and girls from the Gypsy, Traveller, and Roma communities who may be living or currently residing in England to report abuse through our national 3rd party reporting system.

Reporting can take place in a number of ways, either through a self-referral process where a member of the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma (GTR) community can call, text, email, One Voice 4 Travellers, or with the assistance of organisations that have agreed to act as a point of contact for 3rd party reporting. These organisations include  support groups and service providers engaging with or supporting GTR women and girls who may whose lives may have been or is being affected by abuse.

Maintaining safety:

Reports can be either with the consent of women and girls and can be anonymised to protect identities, or through organisations making a generic referral where data is only pertaining to the abuse and not the victim’s identity.

Reporting can be undertaken in several ways:

• At the One Voice office (where 1-2-1 assistance to make a report will be made available if required)

• Over the telephone

• Via Text

• Online using our 3rd Party Reporting form: https://onevoice4travellers.co.uk/

• Via email

• Via the help of other Gypsy, Traveller, and Roma support groups (especially if outside

  of Eastern Region)

• With support from a service providers/partners or other professional such as, police,

  IDVA,

The 3rd party reporting form is available HERE and on the One Voice website: https://onevoice4travellers.co.uk/ or can be emailed out or a hard copy can be sent via post to those who are unable to access the internet and who may wish to complete a reporting form themselves.

This project will extend the successful pilot project undertaken with Norfolk Police where for the first-time data relating GTR women and girls’ experiences of abuse was collected and collated. The information obtained from these 3rd party reports will be collated by One Voice and entered into a database to allow key data to be identified and shared with other professionals and interested parties offering support to domestic abuse
victims.

The information gained from these reports will also be of great benefit in helping future strategic planning for domestic abuse resources through the recognition of areas of need and possible support requirements of domestic abuse victims and survivors.