Transcript Sue Peckover & Fiona Trotter 18th June 2012 Safeguarding children affected by domestic abuse:      context for study practice challenges research design findings: keeping the focus.

Sue Peckover & Fiona Trotter
18th June 2012
Safeguarding children affected by domestic abuse:
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context for study
practice challenges
research design
findings: keeping the focus on children?
emerging issues
Domestic abuse
‘any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or
abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or
emotional) between adults who are or have been,
intimate partners or family members, regardless of
gender or sexuality‘ (Home Office 2007)
Widespread problem:
 1 million children and young people in UK are affected (UNICEF 2006)
 young people and abusive relationships (Barter et al 2009)
Impact on children and young people:
 can be varied, serious, long term
 individual risk and protective factors and resilience are important
Policy initiatives:
 awareness, support and protection for CYP affected by domestic abuse
 has become a safeguarding children issue
Practice challenges:
 extent of problem, associated risks, overwhelmed services
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Child welfare professionals
providing universal and
additional support services
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health
education
early years
family support
youth services
Tier 4: Acute/Restorative
Children at risk of death or serious injury from abusive parental power.
Tier 3: Complex
Children whose lives are seriously disrupted by domestic violence
Tier 2: Vulnerable
Children vulnerable as a result of domestic violence
Tier 1: All Children
Tier 1 & 2
Tiers of Need and Intervention
DH Toolkit (2009)
Aim:
 To examine challenges facing professionals in safeguarding children
who are vulnerable as a result of domestic abuse
Objectives:
 To examine if and how professionals working in universal and
additional support services identify and meet the needs of children
and/or young people who are vulnerable as a result of domestic abuse
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To examine if, and how, professionals use the Common Assessment
Framework to assess and meet the needs of children and/or young
people who are vulnerable as a result of domestic abuse
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To identify gaps in service provision and professional practice and
make recommendations for improvement at local and national levels
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Small study, north of England, funded by LA , undertaken in 2011
5 focus groups (n= 23) and 2 group discussions (n= 27)
Participants worked in universal and additional services:
◦ health (school nurses, midwife, hvs), education (teachers,
learning mentors, parent support worker, EWO), family support
and early years workers
◦ specialist staff (FIP and IDVA)
Discuss views and experiences of safeguarding children who are
vulnerable as a result of domestic abuse:
◦ awareness, assessment and responses, service provision/gaps,
safeguarding processes
Qualitative data, recorded with consent, transcribed and analysed
Ethics approval
Safeguarding Children
 lots of ‘safeguarding’ (process and systems)
 little about ‘children’
◦ recognition, more than responses
This paper about responses/working with children:
 examples
 barriers and constraints
◦ confidence, skills and time
◦ whose responsibility?
Preventative work
◦ School Nurse - targeted local project for young people and PHSE
◦ Motivational interviewing techniques in talking with young people
Keeping children safe
◦ getting mum to take children to grandmas early in day rather than late
at night when partner returns home late, drunk and abusive
Providing a specialist or adapted service
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Tailored timetable within school
Play therapy offered by Family Support workers
Early years child care
School based counselling services
Talking with children and young people
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Skills, knowledge and confidence (and time):
◦ about what working with children means and how they can
contribute
◦ talking with CYP living with DV and YP affected by abusive
relationships
◦ interventions: preventative and or targeted programmes
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Shortage of specialist service provision (therapeutic
services and/or direct work):
◦ service gaps, waiting lists, strict referral criteria
◦ raises anxiety about how to work with children/respond to DV
◦ talk of ‘passing the baton’
I deal predominantly with just one sole year group with nearly 300
pupils and there’s at least 5 cases that I am actually aware of,
there’s probably a fair view more that I’m not aware of. And like
you say the support isn’t there. There is now no services within
the educational counselling that service has now been cut as
well, because otherwise I would have referred there. But I’m
then taking on the role whilst as a link tutor part of my role is to
do some mentoring work but it’s a field that I’ve only touched on
in parts and its not a specialist field of mine. But yet I am trying
to support young people that are around domestic violence and I
don’t have the equipment really to do that.
(Link Tutor)
And as school nurses I see quite a few children as well
and you know as when they want it. They can either
come to a drop in, or we can set up some one to one
meetings. But I mean I’m not a counsellor. But I think
sometimes just to be there and just caring and being
there to listen sometimes helps. And assess them and
refer on. If you can find a suitable agency to refer on to
(School Nurse)
Well I have done a course but it was more about how to recognise
the signs, what to look out for in a family and how it might
affect women. But not actually then how to help them deal with
it. Because we have got a family and the kids and they do go to
CAMHS. We don’t know what they do at CAMHS though, we are
not told anything. But that’s the only support that they actually
get. So other than they talk to us in school. But as I say we are
not actually trained to know how to – so we are just kind of
talking to them from a commonsense point of view of how we
would feel about it and what have you. But we have no training
to actually support them
(Learning Mentor)
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Children’s perspectives - what helps (Houghton 2008):
◦ Feeling safe
◦ Finding someone to trust
◦ Confidentiality
◦ Overcoming stigma and shame
◦ Knowledge, understanding and ability
◦ One-to-one support or groupwork with other children
◦ More help available at school
◦ Smoother transitions: moving home, school etc
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NSPCC/Refuge study - London (Radford et al 2011):
◦ Professional reluctance to engage children/young people,
involve them in decisions etc
◦ Uncertainty about what working with children means
There is clearly a need for better understanding among
professionals and commissioners about what ‘work with
children affected by domestic violence’ means. There has
been a tendency to focus on nonevaluated ‘therapy’ and
group work. Conversely, meeting basic developmental needs
– such as access to safe play spaces, having fun, getting into
school, making friends, maintaining safe contact with the
wider family and the community and having stability – seems
to have received less attention. ....
(Radford et al 2011, p 19)
Improve professional skills and confidence:
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talking with CYP affected by domestic abuse – safety & support
about what working with children means and how they can
contribute
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maximise service offer – eg education, health, play etc
‘do basic things very well’
delivering targeted or preventative programmes to children and
young people affected by domestic abuse
training focused on responses rather than signs and symptoms
central focus on children/young people
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Promote understanding with the child – what is domestic abuse
Validation and acknowledgement of the child’s experience – they are not
alone and NOT to blame
Find a vehicle whereby the child can express their feelings – depending on
the age of the child this might be via direct one to one speech / or play if a
young chilzd
Awareness of resources
Develop a support plan
Ensure the child knows when, where and how to contact you
Identification of triggers with victim and also child
Develop a safety plan for child and parent
Focus of work - empowerment
Sue Peckover and Fiona Trotter
18th June 2012