History of the Charity:

SWACA was founded in 1975 by a group of women who lived in the Crosby and Waterloo areas of Sefton.  

The original aim was to provide refuge for women and children who were escaping domestic violence.  This was finally achieved in the early 1980’s in partnership with Crosby Housing Association (a partnership which still exists today).

At this time it was believed that refuge accommodation was the key service required to respond to women experiencing domestic violence.  Indeed, many of the women who sought help in the early days did require safe accommodation.  However, there were many women who came forward requesting a different kind of service.  

Therefore, in 1990 the charity commissioned a 3 month audit to examine the effectiveness of it’s current service provision and the long term prospects of the agency.  The major recommendation that emerged form the audit was that a full time manager was to be appointed to lead the development of diverse and sustainable services.  In response to audit recommendations, the newly appointed manager set about developing comprehensive services, most of which were aimed at enabling women and children to remain, where possible, safely in their own homes.

In addition, SWACA have always recognised that the issue of domestic violence cannot be the sole responsibility of any one agency, and so over the years, have committed to enabling and facilitating multi-agency partnerships and initiatives.  

The priority now is to continue to develop appropriate and accessible services for women and children, as well as taking the lead in encouraging proactive and early intervention, from all partner agencies in tacking the issue.