Agenda and minutes

The Panel considered the report of the Director, Legal and Governance, which in accordance with the inquiry plan, requested that the Panel considered the comments made by the invited guests and used the information provided as evidence in the review.

Following discussions with invited representatives the following information was received:

Phil Bullingham – Service Lead for Safeguarding, Improvement, Governance & Compliance, Children and families, SCC

·  A presentation outlining the range of support services provided by the Children and Families Service to reduce domestic abuse in Southampton was delivered by Phil Bullingham.

·  In addition to the points raised in the presentation, Phil made the following key points:

o  The High Risk Domestic Abuse (HRDA) response was embedded in the Multi-Agency Children’s Safeguarding Hub (MASH).

o  A number of programmes worked with children to help them to recover from the adverse effects of being exposed to parental domestic abuse including Domestic Abuse Recovering Together (DART) (7-14 year olds) and Sure Start Special (Under 5’s).

o  DART, led and coordinated by Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA), together with Women’s Aid and Southampton City Council (SCC) family support workers, is designed to build positive mother and child relationships – thus helping to stop inter-generational abuse, promote positive family relationships and to prevent escalation in safeguarding.

o  Sure Start Special is a unique joint project with Southampton’s Women’s Aid and Southampton Sure Start Children’s Centres funded by Children in Need.  It is a new project for children who have been exposed to parental domestic violence and abuse.  It is an early intervention programme for both children aged 3 or 4 years and their mother/carer.

o  Young perpetrators – The Youth Offending Service use Asset Plus assessment tool which includes consideration of domestic abuse in families.

o  Training has been delivered to staff, inclusive of voluntary and community sector agencies, working in Children’s, Health, Housing, Community Safety or Adult Services on restorative practices, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) and trauma. 

o  This suite of training supports a pan-Hampshire ambition to create a ‘whole system approach’ that supports our workforce to work restoratively with children, families and vulnerable adults; at the same time as having a greater awareness and understanding of the impact of Adverse Childhood Experience, trauma and the effects of parental conflict.

o  Investment has been put into the extended locality model.  Upskilling staff that work in the community delivering early intervention / early help services to capture and engage at an early stage on issues such as domestic abuse, mental health and substance abuse.

o  Engagement by perpetrators is hit and miss.  Engaging with them early is challenging.  It often requires the intervention of the Police or courts before perpetrators engage.

o  There is a need for additional resources in perpetrator services.  The provision is good but minimal at present.

o  Would welcome Hampton Trust being embedded within the HRDA to help improve engagement with perpetrators.

Grace Grove – Public Health Practitioner, SCC

·  A presentation outlining the findings from a literature review of effective practice  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.