Agenda item

This item will inform a mini review by the commission on Domestic Abuse and Violence in the Family – the scrutiny review scope is enclosed.

 

The session will hear from:

 

·  Community Safety council officers – a report is enclosed.

·  Probation service, including their in-house programme for perpetrators.

·  Early Family Help services delivered by the council  -  a report is enclosed.

·  Solace Women’s Aid.

·  Yuva,  particularly work with young people who have been abusive to their parents/carers and in their close relationships and the Domestic Violence Intervention Project.

·  Police, on specialised work and partnership work - presentation is enclosed.

·   Councillor Leanne Werner; Deputy Cabinet Member for Domestic Abuse

·  Bede House

·  Su Mano Amiga

·  Other voluntary and community organisations, to be confirmed.

 

 

The following contributed to the session:

 

 

Community Safety officers who lead and commission Domestic Abuse services	Sharon Ogden,Safer Communities Team Manager
Children’s Services (Family / Early Help)	Jenny Brennan,Assistant Director Family Early Help & Youth Justice
YUVA Project (Delivered by DVIP), commissioned by the council to work with young people (age 11 – 18) who have been abusive to their parents/carers and in their close relationships. They help young people to look at their abusive behaviour and find safe, non-abusive alternatives.	Catarina Sousa, Area Manager (South), Domestic Abuse services, DVIP, a division of Richmond Fellowship   Michelle Ellingham, Yuva service manager
Probation Service, specifically the in-house programme for offenders who perpetrators 5 minute presentation on the work done by Probation for perpetrators of Domestic Abuse. Chantal Foster. Head of Probation Delivery Unit (Southwark)	Chantal Foster, Head of Probation Delivery Unit (Southwark)
Police, providing briefing and attending, including specialised services for DA.	Clair Kelland  - D/Supt, Public Protection, MPS
Solace	Gabriella Bogdan - Solace Advocacy & Support Service (SASS)   Colin Fitzgerald – Solace perpetrator work
Cabinet leads for Community Safety and Domestic Abuse.	Cabinet lead, Cllr Evelyn Akoto, Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing.   Councillor Leanne Werner; Deputy Cabinet Member for Domestic Abuse
Bede House StarFish Domestic Abuse Project	Nicole  Hooper ( Deputy manager)
Su Mano Amiga	Cllr Maria Linforth –Hall, Director of Su Mano Amiga and member of the commission

 

 

The chair invited participants to give and overview of their role and also to put forward recommendations for Southwark to improve our practice in tackling Domestic Abuse in Families.

 

Sharon Ogden, Safer Communities Team Manager, gave a brief overview of her report circulated with the agenda. She suggested more early intervention, as services tend to work at crisis point, and also more work with perpetrators - again using an early intervention model.

 

Jenny Brennan, Assistant Director Family Early Help & Youth Justice gave an overview of her report. In terms of further work she spoke about the challenge of finding a model to work with fathers which enables them to stay engaged as parents while keep children and families safe. This includes work to support people to manage conflict better, rather than causing harm. The service want fathers to parent their children, however the Assistant Director said there is a need to for behaviour change and to provide effective support for fathers who are not suitable for the DVIP programme either owing to lack of acceptance of domestic abuse behaviour, or who are unable to engage with the 26 weeks programme. She suggested a targeted engagement programme could build on the work currently undertaken by the fathers group work programme.

 

In addition there are Mental Health issues and potential cycles of abuse, where teenagers can trigger mothers and act out poor conflict behaviour, which are also a challenge.

 

She would like to see increased engagement of schools with Project Encompass and promotion as part of the Team around the Schools approach.

 

Catarina Sousa, YUVA Area Manager and Michelle Ellingham, Yuva service manager explained that YUVA work with young people aged 11 – 18, or up to 25 years old if special needs. They work with children and young people who act out to attempt to prevent further perpetrator behaviour later down the line. There is a 10 week programme for young people, and an 8 week programme for parents. The families are often complex, with children with special needs including Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The service finds it tougher to engage with fathers, and often it is mothers who are most involved. 

 

YUVA would like to extend their service and days worked in the borough, and also have more extensive involvement with partners on the ground. Regular conversations would be good, not just family specific discussions.

 

Chantal Foster, Head of Probation Delivery Unit (Southwark) gave a presentation published in the agenda. She spoke about the Probation service’s Building Better Relationships which looks at how to manage feelings and behaviour. It is a training programme delivered over 5 and a half months. The course is aimed at adult male perpetrators convicted of an Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) related offence against a female partner, who present with a moderate or high risk of committing future IPV offences. There is also partner link workers who provide support and look at the risk to people in a relationship with participants.

 

 

In terms of recommendations she said she would like to be able to put plans in place to do a handover to community groups of participants who have completed the programme so that support remains in place once people have excited the programme.

 

Clair Kelland - D/Supt, Public Protection, Police, provided a presentation, published with the agenda. This show the increases in Domestic Abuse during the pandemic, including a rise in parents and sons, with a significant 50 % increase in sons.  She outlined how the police, including specialised services, respond to Domestic Abuse in families, including when young people may be perpetrating. The definition of Domestic Abuse excludes perpetrators under the age of 16.

 

The police would like to see more work with under 16s and YUVA working more than the present 2 days a week in Southwark. She undertook to involve YUVA more in partnership work.

 

Gabriella Bogdan - Solace Advocacy & Support Service (SASS), outlined the work of Solace in Southwark, who are commissioned by the council to provide:

·  Survivor advocacy and support

·  Sanctuary scheme,

·  26 week Perpetrator Programme,

·  Child therapy,

·  Counselling,

·  Survivor group work programme,

·  Community training and awareness raising.

 

She recommended increased therapeutic support for children and also parents as the present provision is not sufficient.

 

Colin Fitzgerald spoke about Solace’s perpetrator work. He noted that 78% of perpetrators come from postcodes SE1, SE15, SE16, and SE17. Solace deliver a structured perpetrator programme for 24 weeks.

 

 He echoed comments by YUVA and the Probation Service on the importance of connectivity and locating Perpetrator programmes in the community, with these being one aspect of a community response. A research project with three boroughs had found connectivity to be crucial. Informal conversations are not happening enough with the pandemic so that is something that ought to be restarted.

 

He emphasised the importance of Trauma Informed response and the negative impact a lack of safety has on children. The commission’s attention was drawn to the importance of Early Family Help and the First 1000 Days recommendations, a report by the Health & Social Care Select Committee, which addresses interventions to address the crucially important time period in a child life, from conception through to age 2.

 

The work of Dr Carlene Firmin, on contextual safeguarding, and particularly the importance of keeping teenagers safe between 3 – 6pm , and the work of Dr David Mandel , Safe and Together , work with fathers was referenced

 

He strongly recommend that the system makes the same demands of mothers as we make of fathers , as currently this is  not symmetrical in social services . This would increase the accountability of fathers and signal to fathers their importance.

 

 

Nicole Hooper, Deputy Manager, Bede House spoke about their work. This focuses on small project work with families. There is a 12 week programme, as well as longer term work.

 

She agreed that there ought to be more partnership work and that there was not an equal level of accountability for male perpetrators and fathers, commenting that mothers get  monitored and flagged if a father attends , but there is little consequence of men. She felt the emphasise ought to be ‘safe mother, safe children’.

 

The Bede House Deputy Manger referred to a service in Lewisham which works in primary schools.

 

She also endorsed Early Intervention and Trauma Informed responses

 

She recommended encouraging agency in women when they devise safety plans, as women will often act compliant to service providers.

 

Cllr Maria Linforth - Hall, Director of Su Mano Amiga and member of the commission spoke about Su Mano Amiga work with the Latin American community and Domestic Abuse. She said language barriers and a macho man culture contribute to Domestic Violence.

 

During the first lockdown in March 2020 the phones calls went up significantly to about 24 – 26 a day, during a time when they could not deliver face to face work. Calls are now back down to 2/3 a day. She voiced concern about children who were stuck in situations where parents are fighting.  Su Mano Amiga’s  interventions have particularly focused on children’s wellbeing.

 

 

Councillor Leanne Werner; Deputy Cabinet Member for Domestic Abuse spoke about the new Domestic Abuse Bill that  focus on breaking the cycle of violence and  recognition that children need to be seen as victims not just witness .

 

She highlighted the work of a previous scrutiny review on Violence against Women and Girls and the importance that young people had given to relationship work in schools.

 

Cabinet lead, Cllr Evelyn Akoto, Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing said the Domestic Abuse needs  to be challenged this at a society level. She highlighted the importance of London wide work with domestic abuse survivors as people are often mobile across boroughs.

 

The chair then invited comments from members and the following points were made regarding recommendations the commission could make:

 

·  Informing people about abuse and educating people what the many forms of abuse can look like - e.g. coercive control is important.  The council could look more at relationship coaching, conflict resolution training,  as well as the wider culture and opportunities to raise awareness of the consequences of abuse.

·  A focus on engagement with fathers, and raising  expectations around parenting

·  Tackling unequal expectations and accountability for fathers

·  Early intervention work in schools, including good practice in Lewisham

·  Improving connectivity in the wider partnership

·  Developing handover plans

·  Increase support for teenagers and the presence of YUVA

·  A Trauma informed approach.