Support for Refugee Women in Wales

The Birth Partner Project provides volunteer birth partners who work in small teams to offer support and friendship to asylum seeking and refugee women in the latter stages of pregnancy, throughout labour and birth, and the first eight weeks postnatally. Each volunteer will make sure they meet with the mums to be as much as possible in the weeks leading up to the birth. A 24-hour rota is created amongst the volunteer team to cover the period when the baby is due. The volunteer continues to meet with mum and baby for 8 weeks after birth.  The volunteer birth partners have supported 73 women from the refugee and asylum-seeking community in Cardiff since the start of the project.

Click here to access support from the Birth Partner Project.

Bawso provides practical and emotional prevention, protection, and support services to Black Minority Ethnic (BME) and Migrant victims of Domestic Abuse, Sexual Violence, Female Genital Mutilation, Forced Marriage, Honour Based Violence, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. It provides 24-hour Help Line, Crisis Intervention support, advocacy and advice, access to statutory help and services, outreach and community-based services, safe accommodation at refuges and safe houses, and survivor’s empowerment programmes for referrals from all over the UK. Bawso runs purpose-built Refuges, safe-houses, one-stop-shop facilities, Floating Support for survivors in the community, and specialist projects for each area of violence and exploitation of women and girls, men, and boys. Bawso staff and volunteers are also from black and minoritised communities in Wales, giving them a unique understanding of the cultures, religions, and languages of service users and their communities.

Need help from Bawso? Call 0800 7318147 

Our Play Project creates safe, fun spaces for displaced children, helping them overcome fear and communicate. Through play, we build confidence, ease trauma, and prepare kids for school while fostering friendships. Parents, many of whom are single mothers, benefit from informal English classes while their children play, promoting community integration.

Want to join our Play Project? Contact meryl@wrc.wales 

Oasis’s Women’s Group provide women’s only activities including women’s health and beauty, exercise, language classes and a women’s WhatsApp group.  The Women’s Health & Beauty is a safe space for women to come together and paint nails, collect free toiletries and have fun. The group occasionally have visitors from other organisations who speak on a range of topics such as breast cancer, health screening, activities provided by other local services, destitution, support groups, parenting, FGM, and more.

Want to find out more about Oasis Women’s Group? Contact info@oasiscardiff.org

The Hayatt Women Trust promotes social inclusion for the public benefit by working with African women residing in Wales who are socially excluded on the ground of their ethnic origin or gender, to relieve their needs and to assist them to integrate into society.  The trust runs regular drop-in sessions, offering advice and information to newcomers on accessing local health and education facilities. It organises grassroots community education on a range of health-related topics such as understanding welfare reform, Health Awareness Training, mental Health Awareness, and Maternal Health. The charity also offers “Advocacy without Barriers” in which it assists women with issues relating to Health, welfare and benefits, Social Care, and Educational Issues.

Need help from Hayaat Women Trust? You can contact them here.