LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Domestic violence is a problem in Australia that's had special attention in recent years, but there's one piece of research you may not be aware of - victims are more likely to delay leaving a violent relationship if they own a pet.

Abusers often use pets to manipulate and control, and there's the additional problem that few refuges allow pets.

One charity in Adelaide is trying to address the issue as Angelique Donnellan reports.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN, REPORTER: It's Monday night in Adelaide and Jennifer Howard is responding to a crisis.

JENNIFER HOWARD: So we don't need police presence at this one.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: A family has called for help. They're fleeing domestic violence but their dog can't come with them.

JENNIFER HOWARD: The client needs to go into emergency motel accommodation. So we're on the way to pick up the dog.

The dog will probably stay in our foster program for up to three months.

Hello. Hey, girl. Hello. He's ready to say goodbye. I will speak to you soon, bye.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: But before the family heads to emergency accommodation, they wanted to make sure their pet was not left in danger.

Thanks to Jennifer's charity, Safe Pets Safe Families, the golden retriever will only be separated temporarily from its owners.

JENNIFER HOWARD: So far this year we've had 112 pets come into our foster care system and in the last month, we've had 23.

Your foster is going to love you.

We do get a range of animals, horses, chickens, geese. It's scary how much the need is and how much it's grown.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: The dog is going into foster care with a volunteer until her family finds permanent accommodation.

TINA, SAFE PETS SAFE FAMILIES VOLUNTEER: She's beautiful. You've come to stay for a while?

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: Statistics show one in six Australian women and one in 16 men have experienced physical or sexual abuse from a partner.

Victims often delay leaving a relationship because they own pets.

JENNIFER HOWARD: If animals are at risk, than people are at risk and if people are at risk, animals are at risk.

SAFE PETS SAFE FAMILIES VOLUNTEER: Have we got any intakes comes in?

JENNIFER HOWARD: Yeah, we have about six coming in. One that I'm working on at the moment is pretty urgent.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: Jennifer started Safe Pets Safe Families in 2013 - several years after having her own experience with domestic violence.

JENNIFER HOWARD: I can just remember little different occasions, like, I remember, in my spare time, when I was running from my house and I had my phone in my hand, so I was trying to call for help and the phone got kicked out of my hand and I remember my hand being like all black and blue for like a few weeks.

And then I remember like, another time, I had been like kicked in my leg and I had like a big golf ball sized lump on my leg for, that was there for a couple of months.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: When she fled to a women's shelter, she was forced to surrender her beloved dogs, Bulzie and Missy. She still finds it painful to talk about them.

JENNIFER HOWARD: I was asking everyone I knew to see if I could get someone to take them and no-one could take them.

So you're going to make me upset now.

No one could take them, so they were both around the eight-year-old mark. So they should have grown old and they should have just died of old age at home, not been euthanised at a pound and being scared.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: Jennifer set up the charity to make sure no-one else has to go through what she did.

AMBER: Sit. I have three dogs. I have Rufus, who is four, Ruby, who is three, and Red who is two.

I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for my dogs and my dogs wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for Safe Pets Safe Families.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: Life is good now for Amber and her three dogs, but a few years ago, things were very different.

She had just become a new mum when her partner started abusing her.

AMBER: My little boy hadn't settled very much and I was exhausted and I asked for some help to put him back down.

He didn't really want to do that and I got dragged out of my bed and I was on the floor in the bedroom, and broke my eye socket and then I went and settled my little boy and put him back to bed.

And the next day it was, I suppose, as if nothing had happened. He was very over the top nice and very apologetic and I forgave him and thought it was a once-off.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: After 18 months, Amber found the strength to leave. But feared for her dogs, which remained at the house with her former partner.

That was until she heard about Safe Pets Safe Families.

AMBER: Rufus and Ruby went into foster care for just under three months and for me, that was three months of time where I could get back on track, health wise, emotionally as well.

JENNIFER HOWARD: Hi Tina, how are you going?

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: The golden retriever has been in foster care for a couple of weeks and is doing well.

JENNIFER HOWARD: Hey, there she is!

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: As soon as the dog's family is safely in their new house, they will get their cherished pet back.

ANDREW, SAFE PETS SAFE FAMILIES VOLUNTEER: She's happy where she is, for me to look after her but I know she really wants to go home, she keeps grabbing her toy and going to the front gate as if to say, "Yup, I've had enough. I want to go now, I miss my family".

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: Such is the demand, Safe Pets Safe Families has expanded to help the homeless and people with mental health issues.

The charity runs entirely on volunteers.

AMBER: My message to government would be that a lot of people who experience these things can't get through it without their animals.

Good boy. Have a seat.

And I think that an important step in making sure that people do get on the road to recovery is by looking after their animals and supporting them in that way.

LEIGH SALES: If that story has raised any issues for you, you can call 1800 RESPECT.