Ms Cheryl Kelly:

It is very nuanced. Children may also be involved and if these women are not to be separated from those children, where do they go? Nine times out of ten, they just stay in the domestic violence situation due to fear. The statistics show that it takes a woman seven attempts before she actually leaves a domestic violence situation. I have done an awful lot of work with Ruhama around sexual exploitation because that is obviously part of domestic violence as well. There needs to be an awful lot more attention brought to the fact that this is a common issue. This is very common among the women I have worked with and supported who suffer from addiction or have addiction issues. It is a common theme and something I have had to educate myself about to support these women appropriately and to know what kinds of interventions I can put in place to do so. It is very difficult.