The Women’s Shelter in Reykjavík provided services to 200 women and children for varying periods of time over the course of 2012. Those who sought assistance at the shelter stayed there from 1 to 213 days, RÚV reports.
A high number of children resided in the shelter last year, also. The Women’s Shelter has revealed that 87 children stayed in the shelter throughout the years, for an average of 24 days. The shelter offers services in collaboration with the Agency for Child Protection.
“ We had a lot of exceptional children at the shelter, a higer rate than in previous years. Many of them went back to the situation they had left, which is bad news,” said Sigþrúður Guðmundsdóttir, manager of the Women’s Shelter.
One third of the women who seek shelter end up returning to the abusive, or otherwise negative, situation from which they fled.
“The violence is often dangerous enough for the woman to end the relationship for a period of time, but sometimes a woman finds that she is more comfortable in a violent relationship than outside it,” said Sigþrúður.
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