From a 1976 occupation to the Family Justice Centre#
In October 1976 a women's action group occupied an empty building in Derry to open what became the first Women's Aid refuge west of the Bann. In its first eight months, its history records, some 90 women and 300 children stayed there, from both communities in the city and from as far as Dungannon and Ballycastle, and nobody was turned away. An advice centre followed in 1978. Today Foyle Women's Aid works from the Foyle Family Justice Centre in Derry/Londonderry, where its advocates are partners in a multi-agency response.
Its services are free and confidential, and it stresses that they are independent of the courts and the police.
Who can refer, and how#
You can phone the office on weekdays from 9am to 5pm, or drop in to the Family Justice Centre; its home page also mentions texting. Outside office hours it points to Northern Ireland's 24-hour Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline. Its help page lists who it takes referrals from:
- you, yourself;
- friends or relatives, with your consent;
- the Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline;
- social services, the PSNI and the Probation Board.
Accommodation that is all self-contained#
Foyle Women's Aid offers short-term, supported accommodation at confidential locations: purpose-built one, two and three-bedroom flats and houses, fully furnished and equipped. Nothing is shared. Security systems, CCTV and an emergency on-call system add to the protection, and childcare staff help children settle.
It is open to women aged over 17, and to women with children of any age, who are homeless or at risk of homelessness because of domestic abuse, sexual exploitation or trafficking, whatever their religion, politics, ethnic origin or sexual orientation. Its page notes that teenage sons over 16, often not admitted to communal refuges, can live with their mothers there. Some women stay until legal orders are in place and it is safe to go home; others use the time to look at housing with a support worker.
Advocates and court support#
Community advocates support women in the Foyle, Limavady and Strabane areas, at home, at the centre or somewhere safe nearby, on accommodation, safety, legal issues, housing and wellbeing, and link them to the Journey to Freedom group, childcare and youth services.
Its court support service is for any woman attending court on a matter linked to domestic abuse, such as a non-molestation, occupation or residence order or child contact. You can see the courtroom before your hearing, wait in a private room, a separate entrance on request, and a worker who stays with you and liaises with the police, solicitors and court.
Children's services at its Pod 15 centre include a crèche, Camp Hope, a therapeutic programme with residential camps, and the Helping Hands programme.
Names in Northern Ireland, and for migrant women#
Foyle Women's Aid is the Northern Ireland partner in a UK-wide project, led by Southall Black Sisters, for migrant victim-survivors with no recourse to public funds, and has a policy officer working on the barriers they face. It publishes nothing on names.
For people born or adopted in Northern Ireland, nidirect describes three options: recording the change with GRONI, re-registering the birth, or a deed poll. A woman born outside Northern Ireland, as many migrant women are, uses a deed poll, which she can draft herself from GOV.UK's free text (names in Northern Ireland). Where status is held as an eVisa, GOV.UK will update the UKVI account only after a passport or national identity card carries the new name (eVisas and other immigration questions).
This page describes what Foyle Women's Aid publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Foyle Women's Aid has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
