Shetland DACA: A new milestone for domestic abuse court advocacy in Scotland

Last week on the 1^st of October Shetland DACA service launched.  This is the first DACA service catering for an Island community and will also be the first DACA service to regularly be present in a local Sheriff Court.

The Shetland DACA Service is available to women living in Shetland with a criminal court case progressing or likely to start, where the accused is the women's partner or ex-partner and the women is the complainer in the case.

The professionally qualified Shetland DACA team* are available to offer women support throughout the criminal justice process.  They will take time to fully explain the court process, offer support to assess risk of further domestic abuse and offer safety planning options.  The team will provide a level of emotional support and act as the client’s voice in the criminal justice process.

At the DACA Accreditation Project we are truly excited for Shetland DACA developments, particularly as they plan to be present within Lerwick Sheriff Court.  Domestic abuse court advocacy support can only be successful when all criminal justice partners are working together, and the DACA Accreditation Project has been delighted by the progression of the partnerships between Shetland DACA and the local criminal justice partners.  You can read Shetland DACA’s partner’s positive responses to the launch of the service in this Shetland News Article

The DACA Accreditation Project will continue to offer Shetland DACA support following the launch.  More information will be available soon on their website https://www.shetlandwa.org/

Further information about the support the DACA Accreditation project can provide for new and emerging domestic abuse court advocacy services is available on our Accreditation/Mentoring page.  Contact us at scotland@safelives.org.uk for further information.

*The Shetland DACA team are regarded as being fully qualified as they have successfully completed IDAA Blocks 1-5, this is a professional, SCQF qualification.  The 5^th block of the training Block 5: domestic abuse court advocacy is specific to the DACA worker role.  It equips DACA workers with the necessary skills, knowledge and confidence to effectively deliver domestic abuse court advocacy.