BATTERED women seeking temporary refuge are being turned away from the three shelters for them in Singapore.

The reason: All three are often filled, and are unable to take in the women or their children.

'I would love to take all of them in if I have a bed or room, but we simply do not have the resources,' said Sister Agnes Claire-Koh, residential manager of the Good Shepherd Sisters, who runs a 40-bed shelter for women and children.

Her centre took in 224 people last year, almost half of them abused wives and children. The rest comprise women facing other marital and financial difficulties.

Her lament resonates with those running the other two shelters - the 22-bed centre run by the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO) and the 50-bed one run by the Singapore Anglican Community Services.

Last year, 443 women and children sought refuge at the three shelters, staying an average of six months before they were relocated or went back home.

Most were referred to the shelters after seeking help from counsellors for their problems and needing some time away from an abusive home environment.

While at the shelters, the women attend courses on parenting, self-esteem and money matters, while also working on finding jobs if they are unemployed. Children receive child-care. Those who can afford it are charged a monthly fee. The rate varies from shelter to shelter, but works out to at least $75.

A reason places in the shelters are scarce is that it can take months before each woman's problems can be sorted out, or for counselling to be done to explore reconciliation with the men they fled from.

For those who decide against returning home, it can be hard to find alternative accommodation at affordable rates.

It is more complicated for those in dire financial straits, and for foreign women who have no family here to seek help from. All these delay their exit from the shelter even further.

SCWO counsellor Florence Yoo said renting a flat was beyond the reach of many.

It is cheaper to rent a room, but this option is out for women with children - landlords just say no.

In one case, her shelter housed an abused woman for a year until she finally obtained a one-room Housing Board rental flat.

Those who opt for divorce face a longer wait for a new home. First, their HDB flat has to be sold, and it can take some time before they can get another one to buy or rent.

'Where do we house them?' asked Ms Yoo. 'And we have other cases at our doorstep.'

To free space for women facing domestic violence, the Anglican shelter, for instance, had to turn away almost 20 women who had other problems.

Family service centres (FSCs) helping battered women have also come up against the space crunch for temporary housing.

While the shelters provide a safe haven for the women, it is harder to accommodate those with sons aged 12 and above. Only one shelter has provisions to take in older male children.

What this means is that abused women who leave home with their children may find their families split up further - the children go to one home, while mum stays elsewhere. 'It is not an ideal solution. Mothers would normally prefer to be with their children,' said Mr Udhia Kumar, deputy director at the Tanjong Pagar FSC.

This point was reiterated by the Centre for Promoting Alternatives to Violence (Pave), which specialises in domestic violence.

Senior social worker Katherine Baptist said abused married women with children prefer to turn to family and friends for help first.

As an indication of the number of families in distress, there were 2,667 Personal Protection Orders (PPO) and Domestic Exclusion Orders (DEO) applications in 2006.

Almost 70 per cent were cases of spousal violence, and four out of five applicants were women.

A PPO means the alleged abuser must keep away from the victim, even though they may continue living under the same roof.

In more serious situations, an abused person can apply for a DEO, which bars the alleged abuser from entering a specific room in the house, or the whole home.

Social workers interviewed felt that, given the number of women seeking help and the time needed to sort out their problems, there is a need to review how the shelter service can be improved.

Mr Mohd Ali Mahmood, executive director at the PPIS-Jurong FSC run by the Young Women Muslim Association, which handled 30 domestic violence cases last year, said: 'Shoring up victims takes time.

'Helping them to develop coping skills and return to society takes greater dedication than looking into the welfare needs.'

Mrs Wee Wan Joo, the president of the SCWO, said: 'The shelter is a refuge for women who are abused. It should not become a place to house them till they get their HDB flat.'

For now, however, it looks like the shelters will have no choice but to continue turning away new cases when they have no room.