Leeds: Children at a Women's Aid refuge speak of challenges they face

The children's and young person's centre at the refuge is based in an old garage

For those escaping domestic abuse, refuges provide a vital first step, a safe port in a storm. But for children the move can mean cutting ties with their school, their friends, their relatives.

At Leeds Women's Aid, around 70% of the women who come to the refuge bring children with them and helping those children lead as normal a life as possible is a big challenge.

I have spoken to young people being supported at the centre about the difficulties they face.

The centre gives children the chance to socialise in a safe place

In a windowless garage a boy is absorbed in a PlayStation game in one corner while another carefully picks his way through a tune on a keyboard.

Beneath the glow of fluorescent strip lights there are books and toys scattered around the room, a table football game, a small kitchen and a number of electric heaters to warm the room.

Once a week this garage, known at the refuge as the Children's and Young Person's Centre, is a place for kids and teenagers to get out of their apartments and socialise.

"I like the PlayStation, reading books in the reading corner and playing in the tent," one of the boys tells me.

Chief executive Nik Peasgood said they are fundraising to build a new children's centre

But this is a space for children of all ages, from toddlers to late teens, and for the older ones the facilities are limited.

"I don't feel like there's that much in the garage apart from the PlayStation," one teenage boy tells me.

"For the little one's there's loads of stuff."

Dan, not his real name, lives in an apartment at the refuge with his mum and siblings.

Some women and children have stayed at the centre two to three years as they rebuild their lives.

The children go to school as normal and can attend their school sports clubs but the older children are not able to play on the streets like other teenagers do.

For Dan, he is trying to live life as normally as he can.

"You can still go out," he tells me,

"It's not like we're stuck here but you have to be careful going out".

Support worker Emily Taylor said the new centre would give them a private space for counselling

Staff at the refuge are only too aware of the limitations.

Chief executive Nik Peasgood recognises that socialising for these young people is difficult.

"When they're living in their own house, they might have friends round, they might have sleepovers," she says.

"When they're at the refuge it's a secret address and although we have other children, there's not really anywhere for them to go."

The charity has started fundraising for a two-storey children's hub, costing around £350,000.

The plans include a sensory room, a gaming room with a graffiti wall and a separate room where children can receive support for the trauma they have experienced.

Children and young person's support worker Emily Taylor says a private space for counselling at the refuge is vital.

"Not all children want to be sought out at school," she said.

"For some of them that's their only time away from this refuge and if we go to that space, we're following them with that."

The new centre would offer more for children of all ages

The children living in Leeds Women's Aid accommodation have been asked for their ideas to help design the new centre.

One boy says he likes the pictures of the new centre because "it's bigger and there are more colours, not just plain white walls".

Another boy wants a private room "where you can talk to someone if you're feeling upset and you don't want anyone else to know".

These boys are likely to have moved into new homes by the time the centre is built, but for the next children who come to live here, it could be a very different place to stay.

Dan said the new children's hub will make a difference to those young people who come to live here in the future.

"It's already good enough but I think this could benefit the younger children and the older children if we can do more stuff," he said.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.