Transcript Through The Eyes of a Bairn” Evaluation of the Cedar

www.cedarnetwork.org.uk
What caught our attention?
• Supporting mother to support child
• Gendered analysis i.e. DA being a cause &
effect of inequality
• Community – a shared responsibility and
heightened awareness of complexity of DA
What we set out to do
•
To pilot and evaluate an interagency support
service for children & young people with
experience of domestic abuse in Scotland
•
To use the learning from this demonstration
project to develop a toolkit that will assist other
local areas to implement this type of services
Scottish Government
Cedar
National Partnership Group
(SWA, Edinburgh, Fife, Forth
Valley)
Edinburgh
Local Advisory
Group
Cedar Coordinators
Multi-agency activity
Fife
Local Advisory
Group
Cedar Coordinators
Multi-agency activity
Forth Valley
Local Advisory
Group
Cedar Coordinators
Multi-agency activity
National Cedar Partnership
Objectives
•
To pilot the project in Scotland
•
To develop a ‘toolkit for implementation’
•
To develop a Monitoring & Evaluation Framework for
the pilot
•
To support the adoption of this approach across
Scotland
Local Cedar Projects
Objectives
• To achieve better outcomes for children, young people
and women affected by domestic abuse
• To achieve better joint working by agencies when
supporting children and young people affected by
domestic abuse
• To improve agency responses to children and young
people affected by domestic abuse
The Program
• Mothers supported as they understand how to best help their
children
• Providing an opportunity for children to talk about their
experience of being exposed to abuse
• Help children to understand that domestic abuse is not their
fault
• Teach children how to develop and practice safety plans
Guiding Principles of Cedar
Approach
1. Cedar curriculum, structure and strengths-based
approach
2. Learning with and from peers
3. Mutual recovery
4. Assessment as engagement
5. Multi-agency professional learning and
integration
Underpinning Principles
• Recognise that supporting mothers to support their
children can be the most effective and sustainable
way to protect and support children and young
people with experience of domestic abuse
• Ensure that supporting children and young people
with experience of domestic abuse is a shared
responsibility amongst children’s service providers
The Cedar pilot in Scotland
Outcomes for children, young people
and mothers
Positive group
environment
Ability to
manage their
emotions and
their actions in
response to
domestic
abuse
Families
have a more
positive
future outlook
A greater
understanding
of domestic
abuse
Greater
knowledge of
safe
behaviour
Positive impact
on mother-child
relationship
Assessment as engagement
• The Cedar assessment process brings ‘added value’ in
its own right as a form of ‘assessment as engagement’
– it’s not just an entry route to the groups.
• Through non-stigmatising engagement, much-needed
additional services can be secured for children and
families.
• There is a clear potential to reach ‘hard or harder to
reach’ families through personal recommendation.
Multi-agency professional learning and integration
Learning together in practice:
co-delivery
Extending a strengths-based
approach to broader
professional practice
• Very positive outcomes for cofacilitators
• Recognition of existing
capacities of children and
mothers
• Involvement in decisionmaking
• Enhancement of resilience &
peer networks
• Non-judgemental approach:
professionals share
• ‘Facilitation’ of learning and
change
• The value of multi-agency cofacilitation
• Extending agency
understandings of domestic
abuse
Valuing early intervention, prevention and
partnership
Recovery focused work is a
solution rather than a burden
Can strengthen local
responses to DA
• Very high numbers of
children in Scotland have
lived with, or are living
with, domestic abuse.
• Cedar sits best within a
local context where there
are clear policies and
partnership strategies to
respond to domestic
abuse
• Cedar should have a place
within wider social work
provision - integrated into • Can tackle inconsistencies
existing multi-agency and
in addressing DA amongst
partnership work as ‘a way
practitioners
of working’
Ending the conspiracy of
silence....
• “We thought they didn’t see”
(Cedar graduate, mother)
• “It’s definitely through the eyes of a
bairn, Cedar, isn’t it?”
(Cedar graduate, mother)
• “You can’t put a price on happiness”
(Cedar graduate, aged 17)