Charity calls on churches to be on the lookout for domestic abuse

It comes as a group of MPs have said survivors of domestic abuse deserve better protection.

The Home Affairs Select Committee’s report suggests councils should fund more refuge spaces. They estimate 200 women and children are turned away from emergency refuges in England every day, due to a lack of bed spaces.

Andrew Caplen is from Restored Relationships – a Christian alliance helping churches combat domestic violence.

Speaking about the need for churches to be on the lookout, Caplen told Premier: “Churches should be aware that this happens – it might be happening on your doorstep, it may even be happening within your churches.

“And secondly the churches need to actually know where to refer when they see these instances. You need to know, and you need to be aware and you need to be able to know how to deal with it when you see it.”

The Parliamentary report also states serial stalkers and domestic abusers should be placed on a new register and monitored.

Reforms to prevent benefit payments being controlled by abusers to give victims the economic independence to escape is another suggestion.

Under the proposals, individuals on the register would be managed through multi-agency public protection arrangements (Mappa).

This is the system used by police, probation and prison services to manage the risks posed by violent and sexual offenders living in the community.

The…