APPENDIX 15
Memorandum submitted by Gloucestershire
County Council
1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Gloucestershire County Council has commissioned
a Change for Children Project to focus on improving outcomes of
children and young people who witness domestic abuse and are adversely
affected by this experience. It is well known that 25% of women
will experience domestic abuse during their lifetimes, but there
is no reliable prevalence data for the percentage of children
and young people who witness their parent/carer being abused,
although there is a wealth of evidence that this experience damages
children. Recent information from Gloucestershire suggests that
a large number of children and young people are affected by domestic
abuse. A pupil on-line survey (2006) found that 46% of year 8
and 10 respondents had witnessed or been a victim of domestic
abuse, and police risk assessments result in 500 reports per month
being sent to social care, although some of these are repeats.
1.2 The long term aim of the project is
to address the intergenerational cycle of violence, by reducing
the number of young witnesses who grow up to become tomorrow's
victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse. This project aims
to develop a strategic response to these children and young people,
by providing a commissioning framework to ensure that services
are available at an appropriate level to meet their needs, and
to ensure that policies and procedures are joined up across agencies
working with children and families. It includes action at level
1 to ensure the promotion of healthy relationships in school and
other universal settings.
1.3 This piece of work is significant, as
this is the first time that the needs of children and young people
exposed to domestic abuse have been recognised by the county as
requiring a specific strategic response and are now included in
the Gloucestershire Coordinated Community Response to Domestic
Abuse. Previously, children and young people who witnessed domestic
abuse were not viewed as victims, except where there was overlap
with child protection.
2. INTRODUCTION
This evidence focuses on current and planned
work in children's services in Gloucestershire.
There are several drivers for these developments:
2.1 Domestic violence/abuse strategy 2005-08
This strategy acknowledged that children and
young people are victims of domestic abuse and one of the key
workstreams of the strategy included an action plan to address
the harm caused to children by witnessing domestic abuse. The
strategy also made a clear business case for improving the way
domestic abuse is tackled in Gloucestershire by using Walby's
methodology to show that domestic abuse costs the county £230
million. This figure has since been recalculated to be £275
million.
2.2 Report of the task group of councillors
set up by the Children and Young People overview and scrutiny
committee
This work arose from concern by councillors
as to how well the local authority was performing in relation
to supporting children and young people exposed to domestic abuse.
The report acknowledged that key developments had taken place
since the task group was formed, and these are an appropriate
and welcome way forward. The report concluded that the local authority
should adopt an "invest to save" approach and ensure
that this development work is adequately resourced.
2.3 Findings from the health community's 2006
on-line pupil survey
This survey covered a wide range of health and
wellbeing indicators. It found that between 8% and 13% of respondents
reported a moderate to severe concern about their emotional health
and wellbeing, and 46% of year 8 and year 10 pupils reported either
witnessing or being subject to domestic abuse.
2.4 New police risk assessment and Multi Agency
Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs)process
As part of Gloucestershire Specialist Domestic
Violence Court Programme, police are risk assessing all incidents
of domestic abuse in order to identify those individuals at highest
risk of serious harm. This process began in autumn 2006, and immediately
began to show large increases in the numbers of children and young
people identified as witnessing domestic abuse and reported to
Children and Young People's Directorate Access Team. This figure
is currently around 500 per month (including repeats), which we
recognise to be a gross underestimation of the actual numbers
of children vulnerable or at risk of harm because of domestic
abuse, because the police are often only called either after several
previous incidents (the national average is 35) or because the
incident is more serious. In response to this, Safeguarding Children's
Board, Police and MAPPA have a pilot planned to use Children's
Strategy Discussions combined with the MARAC process to specifically
include a focus on the risks to children and young people as a
result of the domestic abuse that they are witnessing and/or experiencing.
2.5 Children and Young People business plan
2007-08
Seven priority areas were identified for this
year, one of which was protecting and supporting children and
young people exposed to domestic abuse.
2.6 Gloucestershire County Council's gender
equality scheme and action plan 2007-10
Domestic abuse is acknowledged as a challenge
and the action plan calls for coordinated working between police
and other agencies and improved collaborative working to identify
and address domestic abuse issues.
2.7 Gloucestershire Local Safeguarding Children
Board business plan 2007-08
This plan commits the Safeguarding board to
ensure that all agencies are implementing the domestic violence/abuse
strategy by raising awareness of domestic abuse among practitioners
and by ensuring that child protection procedures reflect this
direction of travel.
2.8 Research evidence to support the 2007
emotional health and wellbeing commissioning strategy for children
and young people
"Witnessing domestic abuse can adversely
affect emotional, social and cognitive development. Witnessing
domestic abuse is associated with conduct disorders, PTSD symptoms;
anxiety, depression and suicidal feelings; risk taking behaviour;
difficulties in making and maintaining relationships; difficulty
in paying attention, and falling behind with school work".
There is a growing body of evidence to demonstrate
the harm to children and young people caused by witnessing domestic
abuse, and this harm has long term consequences, such as perpetuating
the cycle of victims/perpetrators and antisocial or criminal behaviour.
These consequences prevent some seriously affected individuals
from becoming economically active and active contributors to society.
3. THE CHANGE
FOR CHILDREN
PROJECT: SUPPORTING
AND PROTECTING
CHILDREN AND
YOUNG PEOPLE
EXPOSED TO
DOMESTIC ABUSE
The project has three areas of work: raising
awareness and preventing young people from becoming victims/perpetrators;
early identification of victims and early intervention; support
for victims. The overall aim of this project is to develop a commissioning
framework so that evidence based good practice can be embedded
in mainstream services.
3.1 Raising awareness
This aspect of the project concentrates on how
children and young people can be encouraged to develop healthy
relationships. Age appropriate material is being piloted to challenge
deeply held attitudes and beliefs. Training and support for teachers
and other staff will be an important component of this work. Future
service development needs may be identified as a result of this
work and will contribute to the commissioning process. This work
is aided by developments that already exist within the county,
such as the mandatory domestic abuse training coordinated and
delivered through the local safeguarding children's board, and
the domestic abuse resource pack for schools and early years settings
produced by the Healthy Schools Partnership.
3.2 Early identification and intervention
This aspect of the work looks at how existing
assessment processes can identify children and young people who
are witnessing domestic abuse, and to offer support as early as
possible to prevent the development of more serious difficulties.
3.2.1 The common assessment framework (CAF)
is an essential vehicle for this process but is not yet embedded
across all agencies in Gloucestershire, and more work needs to
be done to ensure that those administering CAF are trained and
supported to ask supplementary questions about a child's exposure
to domestic abuse if the child's needs suggest that this may be
an underlying cause.
3.2.2 A development currently being piloted
involves joint MARAC and safeguarding "strategy discussion"
meetings. This initiative reduces the amount of time practitioners
have to spend in meetings and encourages a joined up approach
to risk assessment.
3.2.3 Other guidelines have been produced
by the health community, such as the Department of Health's handbook
"Responding to domestic abuse"; the Royal College of
Midwives position statement on domestic abuse; and the 2007 British
Medical Association Board of Science report on domestic abuse.
All these state clearly that health professionals should ask about
domestic abuse at routine contacts yet there is local evidence
that this advice is not being followed. This is despite evidence
that domestic abuse victims want to be asked about it, but do
not feel able to mention it until they are asked. This project
will focus on identifying training needs, and auditing compliance
with these guidelines.
3.3 Support for victims
This final aspect of the project is concerned
with ensuring that children and young people (and their non-abusing
parents/carers) receive support at the level (1-4) most appropriate
to meet their needs. Key interventions have already been identified
from the literature: peer support groups for children and young
people; advocacy and support for non-abusing parent/carers; parenting
support for non-abusing parent/carers; and relationship rebuilding
to address issues of attachment. These can be delivered at all
levels depending on need, and on a multi-agency basis.
3.3.1 Since the start of the project, it
has become apparent that there is a significant proportion of
young perpetrators in the county. These young people are so young
that they should not be labelled as perpetrators, as they are
clearly victims of what they have witnessed during their childhood.
Alongside this is the development of adult perpetrator programmes;
these will have a core theme of addressing the effects of domestic
abuse on children and young people. These programmes would run
for 12 weeks to mirror the parent training programmes for the
non-abusing parent/carers.
4. Figure 1 describes where the project aims
to make connections between current pieces of work that are already
in place. Figure 2 demonstrates how the strategic response to
children will be implemented through a stepped approach.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE LEVELS OF NEED AND INTERVENTION
MODEL
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