From Sandwell Women's Aid to four Cedar Centres#
Black Country Women's Aid (BCWA) began in Sandwell and was known as Sandwell Women's Aid. Its chief executive, who joined in 2000, has seen it grow from a small refuge provider into a regional charity that supports more than 8,000 people a year and marked 40 years in 2026. Its domestic abuse refuge and community services hold the Women's Aid National Quality Standards, and its sexual violence services, including Ask Marc for men and boys, hold the Lime Culture standards.
Its services are based in four Cedar Centres. The West Bromwich centre is its headquarters, with both gender-neutral and women-only spaces; the Birmingham centre is women-only and focuses on women in the criminal justice system and on modern slavery.
Which service covers your borough#
BCWA is funded borough by borough, so the services differ from one council area to the next:
- Sandwell, Dudley and Walsall: domestic abuse advocates (IDVAs) in the community and at court, for women and men over 16, and support for forced marriage and honour-based abuse at any age.
- Sandwell: refuge, as well as the community services.
- Wolverhampton: support after rape and sexual violence, for women and girls facing stalking, and for young people affected by sexual violence or exploitation.
- Sandwell, Dudley, Wolverhampton and Birmingham: modern slavery support.
The locations page lists each centre's services.
Phone, text or WhatsApp#
The contact page gives a line for all services from 9am to 5pm on weekdays; a 24-hour line for advice, or for a refuge place, out of hours; and a text and WhatsApp number answered from 9am to 9pm on weekdays. Agencies refer through forms on each service page, with a secure email. Its children's services have a text line for young people, and its safe browsing page explains private windows, clearing history and why a library, a friend's or a work computer is safest.
Refuge, and help from an IDVA#
If you do not feel safe at home, BCWA aims to find you a refuge space in Sandwell, or elsewhere in the country if you prefer. Its refuges take people with or without children, of any age, culture, disability, ethnicity or sexuality. They range from a purpose-built refuge where each family has its own flat to safe houses in the community, including accessible ones; residents get toiletries and a food parcel on arrival, and everyone agrees to keep the address secret.
An IDVA works out with you how much danger you face, draws up a plan to keep you and your children safer, explains what happens if you report to the police, support you at court, explain civil orders such as non-molestation and occupation orders, and connect you with refuge, housing, immigration, counselling and legal services. Interpreters are available.
When the danger comes from family#
BCWA's forced marriage and honour-based abuse page is written for people controlled or threatened by parents, siblings, a husband or wider family, and says its workers are independent of the police, the council and social services. For someone in that position, a new name can be part of a safety plan. Once you turn 16, your name is yours to change: the deed can be one you write yourself, using GOV.UK's free text, and parents have no veto (the rules at 16 and 17). Plan with your worker which records to change first, so the change does not lead back to you (keeping your address off your records).
This page describes what Black Country Women's Aid publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. BCWA has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
