When the System Fails, We Step In — But We Can’t Do It Alone 

At JRS Australia’s Women’s Space, our Finding Safety Project helps women and children on temporary visas who are fleeing violence. Women and children who are too often shut out of the very systems meant to protect them. 

Despite being funded by the NSW Government, our project receives no brokerage funding to cover essentials like emergency accommodation or financial assistance. And what little funding we do have runs out this August. After that, the future of this vital and one-of-a-kind service is uncertain. 

“Women on temporary visas are routinely turned away from shelters because they can’t prove an “exit pathway” — they have no income, no Centrelink access, and often no work rights. That leaves us, a small, underfunded team, scrambling to find pathways to safe housing. Too often, it’s not enough, and the only options remaining are homelessness or returning to an abuser,” says JRS Australia’s Finding Safety Manager Sara Muzamil. 

Alarmingly, government and non-Government services including child protection service providers come to us for help when government systems won’t step in — even when children are homeless. Why? Because the child isn’t a permanent resident.

Reva’s Story

Reva is a mother of two who has experienced domestic violence. Despite efforts by the Finding Safety team to secure safe accommodation for her, multiple refuges determined through their assessments that she did not have a viable exit pathway and therefore could not accept her. 

Due to the high cost of childcare, Reva was unable to access daycare for her children, which limited her ability to seek employment and stabilise her situation. 

In response, the Finding Safety team negotiated with a refuge to support Reva by committing to cover the cost of her stay. Additionally, we also committed to continue case management support and provide Reva with food vouchers to help meet her immediate needs. 

Without our support Reva would be forced to make a difficult choice between homelessness or remaining with a person using violence. This is a choice that no woman should have to make.  

We need your support to continue to provide another option- the option of safety, justice and dignity. 

This is a failure of policy, plain and simple. 

Our specialised team does all it can to fill the cracks — but those cracks are growing. 

We urgently need at least $50,000 a year just for emergency aid — to help women and children access refuge stays, rental bonds, urgent medical costs, or a simple Opal top-up to get to safety. 

This end of financial year, JRS is aiming to raise $250,000 to keep our frontline services like Finding Safety alive. Every dollar helps a woman find safety, dignity, and the chance to rebuild. 

No woman should be denied safety because of her visa. No child should be homeless in a country that claims to care. 

We’re doing everything we can. But we need you beside us, side by side, hand in hand.

Donate today. Help us keep the doors open. Help us keep women and children safe. 

Click here to learn more about our Finding Safety Project.