Domestic Violence
Violence Against Women Initiative: Multiple Intervention Projects
Project List:
More on the Violence Against Women Initiative
Cheshire Multiple Interventions
SUMMARY
This project seeks to reduce the crime of Domestic Violence using a variety of approaches; in particular by offering support to women and children to enable women to make informed choices about their own safety at an earlier stage. Particularly want to look at Domestic Violence in rural areas, and also to take this forward with schemes for close work between Womens Aid, DVLOs, Victim Support, Health and other agencies.
INTERVENTIONS
a) Data Research & Monitoring Post
Data collection and analysis, of all agencies “base” data
Working all agencies to set up a monitoring system to assess effectiveness
Lead role in devising a tracking system to avoid double counting, etc
Develop a basic costings formula to assess the cost to statutory agencies
(b) Police Cameras, mobiles, training and personal safety video
Cameras for enhanced evidence gathering.
Training for 500 officers to improve the effectiveness of response and protection for victims of domestic violence. This would need to contain an element exploring the myths about domestic violence links and also input on legal remedies which can be used. It is envisaged that the training would be delivered by two police officers (both in training/policy roles) who have been part of a multi-agency training the trainers initiative. They would, of course, be supported by Women’s Aid input.
Development of a Personal Safety video to use in working with women experiencing domestic violence as well as front line staff working with men, e.g. in A&E Departments, Women’s Refuge and Women’s Aid staff, Social Services staff and women and children who are separated through Domestic Violence.
c) Support to women and children
Employ six outreach/volunteer co-ordinators, to be attached to Women’s Aid in West, Central and East Cheshire. The task of the workers will be similar in each area, each with a distinct research focus:
Recruit volunteers (the volunteers will be trained by the Trainer but supervised on a daily basis by the local workers.
Build up team approach with DVLOs and Victim Support to deal with referrals by offering support to those identified following police intervention (building on work already begun very modestly in Crewe to back up Repeat Victimisation Pilot), those identified by attendance at A&E (building on plans through A&E, Women’s Aid and Chester Community Safety Partnership and modelled on an Australian scheme found to be effective – particularly developing “on call” out of hours service which will be greatly enhanced once there is a strong volunteer base) and those identified as experiencing domestic violence in remote rural areas.
Look at how to offer better outreach services. While this will pertain to all areas, the focus will be for Macclesfield to develop a model for rural work. This is building on a project already being developed by Cheshire Police (Inter-Agency Group representative), Women’s Aid linking to Women’s Institute, - in looking at raising awareness in rural communities and also looking for volunteers via this route.
(d) Training Post
To help in the recruitment of volunteers.
To train and provide on-going support and training to volunteers to March 2002.
To run groups for women newly experiencing domestic violence, referred via workers and volunteers (e.g. groups re safety planning and explaining other legal and support options).
To facilitate police personal safety training with women in refuges and front line staff in women aid, A&E departments etc.
To facilitate women’s aid input to Police Training.
e) Education and Training:
e i) Video and Training Pack
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Build on work already piloted in Cheshire schools and to ensure that young people in Cheshire see Domestic Violence as a problem that happens in more rural areas as well as the city and other crowded urban areas. (Pilot projects have already run and have received very positive evaluation from pupils and teachers.)
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The video and pack would be piloted in Cheshire schools. (The Child Protection and Domestic Violence Adviser for Cheshire Education is a party to this bid and has the support of the department and also from the Head Teachers in who's schools the initial pilots (both Secondary and Junior) have taken place with very positive evaluation.)
e ii) Legal Seminars
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It is envisaged that a minimum of three sessions would be targeted at the Crown Prosecution Service, Probation, Social Services, Solicitors, JPs, NSPCC, Victim Support and other front line staff.
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Hold a Magistrates Day to address the issues of Domestic Violence and the experiences of women.
EXISTING INITIATIVES
Pilot Repeat Victimization Project in Crewe. Cheshire Police are planning to “roll out” the pilot exercise that has proved successful in the Crewe Division, across the county. The items in the bid are designed to add value to that plan and to focus our exploration of how effective the projects in the bid may be. All parties recognise that a pointer of success initially may be increased reporting, particularly in a short period of 21 months’ funding. However, longer term we feel such measures will lead to decreases in repeat incidents and more prosecutions.
Health interventions (training to midwives and health visitors to develop skills necessary to ask women questions and deliver the appropriate response, seminars for GPs, training for Women’s Health Unit, AE Women’s Aid and Victim Support cover, use of ‘Home Truths video on television loops in AE).
The evaluation of this project will have to include the extension of the Police repeat Victimisation project, and the multiple health interventions especially within the AE as they will be running alongside the project initiatives and their effects will be impossible to separate.
AGENCIES INVOLVED
Social services, County Council, Education Department, Specialist Health Promotion, Community Development, Cheshire Constabulary, Cheshire Probation Service, Cheshire Refuge Forum, Ellesmere Port & Neston Borough Council, NSPCC Cheshire Victim Support South Cheshire Health Authority Mid Cheshire Womens Health and Vale Royal Borough Council.
Northampton DV Action Centre
SUMMARY
The proposal is for a proactive, fully integrated approach to domestic violence through a Domestic Violence Action Centre which will provide provisions of a dedicated Intervention Team complimented by a Signposting Centre with a number of different facilities available including Multi-Agency Victim Support Team, a Virtual Access Centre, a Survivors Forum and facilities for self empowerment.
INTERVENTION
The Domestic Violence Action Centre will:
Be based in a fully accessible Northampton town centre premises located next to but separate from the Northampton Police town Centre Sector.
Provide a service to users from 8.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10am to 4pm on a Saturday.
Provide accommodation for the Intervention team and the Signposting Centre
Provide a range of information in differently accessible forms, including mini-com, talk-type, the Community Access Language Line and Language Line.
Be accessible to all members of society.
The Intervention Team will:
Employ staff who have been employed to undertake identified roles all seen vital in the interventions model.
Work to the twin goals of support and protect in respect of the victims.
Employ Police Officers who are trained in the use of enhanced investigation models. The Investigators will be responsible for the interview and subsequent investigation of all detained persons at Campbell Square Police station in respect of domestic violence offences committed on Northampton Police Area. This will be linked to the support given to these victims by the victim support worker.
Team working will be underpinned by a robust intervention model based upon a ‘spiralling cocoon of care’ ethos, which structures the approach taken to victims and the options that are available.
Make considered decisions on the ‘actioning’ of certain victims.
Work to realistic targets for the reduction of repeat domestic violence incidents.
Form a close working relationship with the CPS, the Community Legal Service department and Northampton Borough Council legal department through its Legal Intervention Officer to maximise the use of civil and criminal legal remedies and procedures including section 23(3)(b) of the Criminal Justice Act 1998, any new legislation contained in the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, The Protection from Harassment act (1997) and Anti Social Behaviour Orders under S1 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
Support victims through its own two professional Support Workers. One of these workers will ideally be black as the evidence collected shows the confidence such a response would provide ethnic minority victims wishing to report domestic violence crimes.
Ensure that the interests of children and vulnerable people (such as mental health and substance abuse) were met thorough the support workers and the Multi-agency support team.
Have a dedicated Assistant Social Worker who will take primacy over Family Support Issues.
Use all available resources e.g. mobile phone; call care alarms to protect the victims.
Work in partnership with the Multi-Agency Support Team located in the Signposting Centre.
Design and manage an awareness, publicity, marketing and training strategy.
Be supported by an administrator and volunteer workers.
Have a competent manager who reports to a multi-agency steering group.
The Intervention team will work in conjunction with a Multi-agency support team which will:
Be provided through the co-ordinated secondment of staff by relevant agencies in the town.
Operate on a surgery basis to provide victims with access to the full range of support services already available but geographically dispersed in Northampton.
Provide particular attention to the issues of diversity through the inclusion of sensitive contact with specialist agencies working with children, poverty, disability, ethnic minority communities and gay/lesbian issues.
Facilitate the growth of self-help groups and empowerment through counselling and self help groups.
Provide access to benefit and work opportunities.
Support children who have witnessed violence through its links with and the extension of similar schemes operating throughout the county.
Encourage the reporting of domestic violence to any of the agencies working in the support team or the intervention team.
Be able to ensure that the ethos of the centre together with the support and protection advocated for victims is transposed into a diversity of agencies working practices.
The Signposting Centre will also provide the accommodation for the Virtual Access Centre:
Provide a fully interactive web site facility.
Provide E-mail access.
Provide a range of option packs for victims and professionals.
Provide linkages to other sites of interest, family law practices in Northampton and agencies in Northampton working in the field of domestic violence.
A newsletter
A notice board facility for victims to communicate with other victims
Open forums with Professionals from different agencies.
A professional’s area where details of the project and current evaluation will be provided.
A CD Rom to accompany the website.
Located in the Signposting Centre will be the Survivor’s Forum established to:
Inform current policy and practice surrounding domestic violence.
Provide an avenue for further research opportunities
Provide the source of the Survivor Peers who play a role in the intervention model.
Enhance the ethos of empowerment of victims
The signposting centre would also provide other facilities:
Self help groups who would be able to act in an autonomous way in order that they can decide the direction their group should take. Groups may be either mixed in their membership or alternatively service the needs of a specific group e.g. disabled, Black, Refugees.
There will be courses run on Protective Behaviour to support the work of the unit provided by staff from the centre.
There will be help on finding employment and writing C.V’s.
There will be courses to encourage victims to consider what skills they have to develop.
AGENCIES INVOLVED
Northampton Community Safety Partnership, Northampton Borough Council, Northampton Women’s Aid, Northampton Victim Support. Northampton Police Area. Northampton County Council Social Services Department. Northampton Volunteer Bureau. Nene Valley Refuge Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual. Relate. Primary Care Group. Dostiyo.
Camden Safety Net
SUMMARY
This project will build on work already undertaken by the DV Forum in Camden. It will deliver a two pronged approach to domestic violence by working with individual women and their children, and the communities they live in. Taking a holistic view of domestic violence, a specialist team working from an independent centre will work with women, their children, and the perpetrator to address domestic violence in all its forms.
INTERVENTIONS
A self-contained team of specialists will be formed. This will include:
1) Domestic Violence Incident Workers to:
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Accompany police officers from police community safety unit to visit victims following a report of domestic violence to offer advice, help and support
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They will assist police officers and the women herself to ascertain what other agencies need to be involved to minimise the risk of harm to the woman and her children.
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They will also, with consent, take photos using digital photography, in partnership with officers from the police community safety unit, and they will also supply statements thereby providing supportive and persuasive evidence.
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A domestic violence incident worker will be appointed with specialist cultural knowledge and language skills and she will focus on the needs of ethnic minority women (because of the ethnic make-up of the borough the project will seek a worker with knowledge of the Bangladeshi community). British sign language and braille services will also be provided.
2. Primary Care Groups Liaison Worker to work with GPs, receptionists, practice nurses and other staff to further raise awareness to enhance referrals for women by enabling front line medical staff to help women access help, support and advice from other agencies.
3. Reducing Violence Worker to work with perpetrators to enable them to form safe relationship with their current or future partner via the use of counselling and other group work.
AGENCIES INVOLVED
Regeneration and community Partnerships Team, Community Safety Unit, Equalities Unit, Community Safety Unit, all in the London Borough of Camden, Metropolitan Police Community Safety Unit, Camden women’s Aid, Victim Support, Housing Department.
Bradford Staying Put
SUMMARY
“Staying Put” is about supporting and enabling women and children who have experienced domestic violence to remain safely in their family home. It consists of two interlinked components:
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A district wide telephone help line for women/children who have experienced Domestic Violence who make contact with either the Police or directly or indirectly through the help line itself.
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The provision of additional direct support to women and children who want to stay in their homes. Two Police Divisions in Bradford will be the target area; these are Odsal (GC) and Central (GA), which have multi ethnic communities including East European, South East Asian, African and Caribbean people.
INTERVENTIONS
‘DISTRICT WIDE SERVICE’: Initial telephone contact via 24 hour ‘free phone’ help line allowing immediate support, risk assessment and referral to appropriate agencies.
‘STAYING PUT’: In Odsal & Central Police Divisions the project will provide direct services, a follow up personal contact within 24 hours, providing home safety, risk and need assessments for women and children. Target Hardening by installation of security equipment. Family Support through direct work to support women and children allied to the link scheme working with perpetrators (separately funded) to enable the woman and her children to safely stay in the family home and to protect women and children at the point of separation and subsequently. Support to access the legal system so as to reduce attrition and repeat victimisation. To reduce repeat victimisation, by focusing on both protecting women and children through target hardening, including provision of alarms and mobile phones as needed.
AGENCIES INVOLVED
Social services, Bradford, Shipley & Keighley Women’s Aid, Bradford Women’s Aid, Domestic Violence Services Keighley, Family Service Unit, N.S.P.C.C., Housing – Shipley & North Area, Social Services Children’s Community Support, West Yorkshire Probation Service – Public Protection Team, Bradford Inter-Agency Domestic Violence Forum, Black Women’s Domestic Violence Forum, West Yorkshire Police and Fairweather Project
Safety Planning with Survivors and Risk Assessment of Perpetrators:
“Tools for Practitioners”
SUMMARY
The time before and around separation from a violent partner is known to be a time of high risk and increased danger for survivors. Interventions by a range of key agencies, such as police, solicitors, health, etc at this time need to be highly focused on working with each survivor to reduce the specific dangers she is experiencing, and for all criminal justice agencies to accurately assess the specific risks posed by each perpetrator/ offender at that particular time.
This project will develop a range of tools to enable practitioners to respond to survivors of domestic violence in a manner which keeps safety at the centre. The tools will include screening tools, crisis and safety planning tools, an agency safety checklist, risk assessment tools and recommendation matrices.
INTERVENTIONS
In the county of Suffolk, with its diverse rural, coastal and urban populations, each agency needs to have effective, precise and detailed tools and trained staff to be able to respond in a manner which keeps safety at the centre.
This project is intended to:
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Consult survivors and agencies in rural, coastal and urban communities in the pilot area about what is needed and what works now, in relation to safety planning and risk assessment at times of separation.
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Audit and map with agencies whether attention to survivors’ safety is built into the infrastructure of case processing and into the institutional objectives related to case resolution. Agencies will be supported to identify and take ownership of the institutional changes needed to increase safety planning and assess risk.
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Develop a range of tools
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Screening tools for early identification of domestic violence;
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Crisis and Safety Planning tools for use by agencies to empower survivors themselves;
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Agency Safety Checklist (Corporate Safety Planning) to guide effective interventions they can undertake independently;
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Risk Assessment tools and Recommendation Matrices to systematically evaluate and take action to minimise and interrupt offending behaviours by perpetrators.
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Build the capacity of agencies to use those tools.
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Integrate the use of those tools into mainstream practice across the county.
The project will be piloted in a chosen district, incorporating both rural and urban locations. The pilot district will be finalised during the more detailed development stage and in conjunction with the Home Office evaluation team, although it is likely to be Waveney district or Ipswich and Suffolk Coastal. Suffolk is a very rural county with 48% of the population living in rural areas. The geographical isolation of many survivors of domestic violence will be a central theme in much of the Safety Planning work undertaken. It is also intended that police and probation representatives from the other five counties in the Eastern Region would be invited to sit on an advisory group developed to implement Risk Assessment, or provide written feedback via a virtual group.
AGENCY DETAILS
Suffolk Community Safety Unit, Suffolk’s “County Domestic Violence Forum”, Awareness in Practice, Probation Service, Social Services, County Council, CS Task Group, Suffolk Constabulary, SACRO, Waveney Women’s Aid, Family Court Welfare Team, Ipswich & District DV Forum , Babergh DV Forum, Waveney DV Forum, Mid Suffolk DV Forum, Bury St Edmunds DV Forum, Forest Heath DV Forum.
Last update: June 2003