Благотворительность Safe Harbour спасла более 100 жизней после трагической гибели девочки в системе опеки

A SUICIDE prevention charity set up after the tragic death of a 14-year-old girl while she was in care has saved more than 100 lives. Safe Harbour, based in Inverclyde, was founded by former residential support worker Duncan Shaw after the death of Georgia Rowe, who had been in the care of the Good Shepherd Centre in Renfrewshire. Georgia, alongside Niamh Lafferty, who had also been at the centre in Bishopton, died at the Erskine Bridge in October 2009. Duncan had worked closely with Georgia prior her passing and decided to set up Safe Harbour in the aftermath. Since the charity was launched in 2012, it has carried out suicide interventions and now receives referrals from almost every GP practice in Inverclyde. Safe Harbour recently marked an important milestone as it opened a new space at the Drying Green Garden in Greenock. A memorial service was held to mark the occasion, which was attended by Georgia’s family, including her aunt Tanya Oliver, and other families, staff and service users affected by trauma and loss. Tanya told the Telegraph that Safe Harbour’s work helped give her niece’s life a lasting legacy. She said: “Duncan has stayed in touch with us ever since. Every year on the anniversary of Georgia's death on October 4, we meet to remember her. "He is so special to us and has such a big heart. What he has done in setting up Safe Harbour is incredible. "We are proud Safe Harbour is a legacy for Georgia. We want to keep her memory alive and we still want justice. No one was ever made accountable for her death. "I still believe what happened to Georgia could still happen today. I don't know if anything has changed." Safe Harbour’s founder Duncan Shaw said that the memory of Georgia and other children who lost their lives to suicide while in case will never be forgotten. During his time in the care system, six children Duncan worked with died, with Georgia being the last one. The charity boss said he felt he was ‘fighting the system’ for more support and after Georgia’s death decided to take matters into his own hands. He added: “I set up Safe Harbour, which is an adult service that intervenes to help those suffering from traumas which go back to childhood. "We have memory stones and every day we remember Georgia and the other children. "Georgia's family are incredible. "Tanya is amazing, they still want change and so do I. "We will continue to fight. "After what happened to Georgia, I couldn't work in the children's care system anymore. I was gagged and unable to ask questions. "I decided to write my own programme and set up Safe Harbour. "There are so many children in care who have been let down. I worked with a girl, she was 16 years old and put into a scatter flat. “She had no one and she took her own life. She had no family and there was no one else at her funeral." The deaths of Georgia, 14, and Niamh, 15, in 2009 sparked a national outcry and a fatal accident inquiry into the incident found that the tragedy could have been avoided if the Good Shepherd Centre had taken greater precautions. Before her passing, Tanya says Georgia had been moved from a secure unit to a close support unit against the wishes of her family and Duncan. Georgia came to live with Tanya and her former partner in Sorn, Ayrshire, when she was six months old, having been born in prison. Her birth mum - Tanya’s sister - was an addict and was serving a sentence at the time she was born. Tanya said: "We had already adopted her older sister and brother because my sister couldn't take care of them. “They were supposed to arrange for her adoption, but they forgot all about her. "I couldn't have any children myself and we were absolutely devoted to them.” As Georgia moved from primary to secondary school, she began to struggle. She ran away, played truant, put herself at serious risk of harm and started lashing out violently. Tanya said: "There was just no support. I asked for help again and again, but they just made it worse. “I was banging my head against a brick wall." Georgia’s difficulties escalated and she was taken back into care in Hull, which remained responsible for her case. She was later placed in the Good Shepherd Centre in Bishopton. Tanya said: "She had a really good relationship with Duncan. “I felt she was safe, but they wanted to move her out of the secure unit. We warned them against it. "I was invisible. No one listened to me. We knew Georgia best, but decisions were taken above our heads." Duncan had also raised concerns about the move, fearing she would not cope. Her aunt said: "We are still devastated by Georgia's death and everything that happened. That will never go away. "We talk about her every day. We have photographs and we remember her. “She was a lovely girl, she could get on with anyone from a queen to someone on the street." Tanya was joined at the service by her granddaughter Millie, Georgia’s niece, and family friend Kate, whose daughter had been close to Georgia. Tanya said: "Millie will soon be the same age as Georgia, and it hurts every day." Duncan said the fight for justice for Georgia is ongoing. He said: "Tanya was a fantastic mum to Georgia. “She never received the help they needed." Despite Safe Harbour’s incredible reach, the charity faces a relentless struggle to secure funding. The service currently relies on National Lottery funding. Duncan said that despite repeated meetings with Inverclyde HSCP, no financial support has been provided. Both Duncan and Safe Harbour director Jodie McPherson have expressed their frustrations at the funding situation. He said: "We are now working with a major charity in Glasgow providing support to extremely vulnerable women and girls. “But I don't understand why we can't get the commitment we need here in Inverclyde." An Inverclyde HSCP spokesperson said: “We value the work that all our third sector partners carry out in Inverclyde to help improve people's outcomes. “We commission services through our market facilitation process that is underpinned by our Strategic Partnership Plan. “Contracts are advertised and tendered through the Public Contract Scotland website to make it as easy and accessible as possible for organisations to bid for contracts and we will notify Safe Harbour of any suitable contracts as and when they become available.”