Donegal Domestic Violence Services

Description

Who We Are

Donegal Domestic Violence Services is a registered charity working with women and children affected by Domestic Abuse in county Donegal. We are funded primarily though the national unit of Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence within Tusla, and have a Service Level Agreement for the delivery of our services.

Our Staff Team

All of our staff team are experienced in working with the issue of domestic abuse and have been trained in the use of the helpline, court procedures and providing 1:1 support. All staff working with clients are supervised by both a line manager and also by monthly professional external support.
Some staff cover specific areas of the county in particular the Inishowen and South / West Donegal areas. Outreach appointments are managed through contacting the helpline.

History

DDVS was started in 1991 following the murder of a local woman by her ex-husband. In response to this tragic event a group was formed that received support from the North Western Health Board to manage a 3 bedroomed house in Letterkenny, which became the refuge.
In 2014 after a number of years of lobbying, funding was secured through the Department of Environment to develop a purpose built refuge site. This is the current location that the service operates from and we can provide 4 self-contained accommodation units on an emergency basis for families / individual women seeking to flee domestic abuse situations.

Our Board of Management

We have a voluntary Board of Directors who oversee both our companies, the charity (Donegal Domestic Violence Services) and the Housing Association (Donegal Women’s Voluntary Housing Association).

The Board meet monthly and oversee all governance aspects of the work, along with the Manager of the service.

Governance

The DDVS is fully compliant with the Charities Regulator and the Irish Council for Social Housing and makes annual returns to both organisations, as well as filing annual returns with the Companies Registry Office.

 

Data Protection

All contact with the service is documented as part of our own accountability process and data is recorded. This data is managed and destroyed in lines with our own GDPR policies.