Charity for survivors of sexual abuse forced to close - The Jewish Chronicle

The only accredited Jewish organisation that provides support to victims of sexual abuse is to shut its doors, its leaders have announced.

JSAS (Jewish Sexual Abuse Support), previously known as Migdal Emunah, is closing its branches in London and Manchester. Five employees are being made redundant and counselling services will cease at the end of the month.

The charity said it was closing after funding was withdrawn by the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), the charity said. However, the Home Office and Ministry of Justice said they had no record of the charity receiving funding from MOPAC. While the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) gave a grant of £70,000, the charity required a further £80,000 to keep its services open. It has since returned the £70,000 to the GMCA.

The charity supports some 50 people every month, including men, women and children, and its CEO, Erica Marks, told the JC that the sudden removal of counselling and other services would leave clients feeling traumatised. “Our clients have been let down so much in their lives, so this will feel like another organisation is letting them down, but our trustees had no option.”

JSAS, which was set up in 2013 by a survivor of sexual abuse, has supported more than 300 clients. It was the first charity of its kind in the Jewish community to provide accredited independent sexual violence advisor (ISVA) support.

Since announcing its closure, some of the clients have been referred to Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA) to receive support, but as there is no similar service for men, the latter are being sign-posted to mainstream organisations.

But Marks said that their clients had chosen to approach JSAS as “they were looking for a culturally or religiously Jewish service. Since October 7 and the increase in antisemitism, they are worried about going to non-Jewish organisations. These are people who are already very vulnerable.”

She added that 15 per cent of the people they supported also had additional needs or disabilities.

CEO of JSAS Erica Marks (Photo: Kate Swerdlow)[Missing Credit]

However, Marks said that the cost-of-living crisis and a lack of acceptance that sexual abuse takes place within the Jewish community had meant she hadn’t been able to secure enough funding from community donors to keep the charity going.

“I have been spending the last six months going to the Jewish community, saying that we need £80,000 to £100,000 to keep running. Over 75 per cent of our clients are people who are recovering from child sexual abuse. This is the biggest issue the Jewish community has to face. It doesn’t occur any more or any less than in other communities, but it does occur. What we are seeing is the tip of a massive iceberg. We need to understand the devastation sexual abuse causes and fund it properly.”

On average, a client will receive support from JSAS for 18 months, but some will need the services for up to a decade, said Marks. “Even if they have the courage to report the incident to the police, they might have to wait four to five years to have their case heard. Carrying that trauma for that length of time alone is not viable. In the past 18 months, we’ve seen around half a dozen clients who have been feeling suicidal. You can’t just pull the support from people.”

Marks said that the only way that JSAS could reopen would be if it were to become part of a larger Jewish organisation. “JSAS shouldn’t be a standalone charity, but should be a department in another larger charity. In that way, we will be able to tell our story to the community in a way which we have never been able to and access larger donors to raise the £150,000 a year we need to run.”

She said JSAS was one of a number of sexual abuse support organisations which had to shut down in the last five years due to lack of government funding, adding: “A consequence is that we are seeing an increase in sexual violence in our country.”

If you have been affected by any of these issues, please call the Samaritans 24/7 on: 116 123

To get more from community, click here to sign up for our free community newsletter.

Topics:

JSAS

Jewish Sexual Abuse Support

Migdal Emunah