Appointment and Court Accompaniment
The West Cork Women against Violence Project offers accompaniment to appointments (e.g.: to Social workers, Solicitors or other agencies). We will also offer accompaniment to Court for family cases such as applications for Safety Orders, Barring Orders, Custody and Maintenance. We cannot normally offer accompaniment for civil cases.
Main features:
- Our role is to offer emotional and practical support, not legal advice.
- We will meet with the woman in advance to talk through and help her to prepare for court, explain court layout. On the day of the court hearing we will meet with the woman about half an hour beforehand, to have a coffee, talk through her concerns, and offer support, as court attendance is often very stressful and the perpetrator will usually be present at court.
- Where there is more than one client and we do not have sufficient staff or volunteers to accompany all, we will prioritise women who have no other support, have never attended court or who are particularly vulnerable.
- We will assess the situation on a case by case basis: the safety of workers and volunteers is paramount. If the abuser is known to be very violent, police should be contacted to provide safety.
- We can wait until the hearing is over, and take the woman to a neutral place of her choosing to offer further support. This may involve helping her to come to terms with the court’s decision and identifying safety measures for herself and her children.
