Co-design for new Children & Young Peoples Strategy

CYPSP Outcomes and Locality Groups Questionnaire

1 / Building on the current Children & Young People’s Strategy what threeparticular issues do you want to see considered in the new strategy.
1. Sustainable quality support services for children and young people who have experienced (or are at risk of experiencing) domestic and/or sexual violence and abuse.
2. Effective and consistent preventative education, including key messages relating to keeping safe, healthy relationships and accessing support, for all children and young people in both primary and post primary education settings.
3. Quality mandatory professional training provision relating to the impact of domestic violence on children and young people and best practice response for all professionals working directly with children and young people, including teachers, health professionals, youth workers, community workers etc.
2 / For each of these three particular issues - what do you want to see happen.
1.Sustainable quality supports and services for children and young people who have experienced (or are at risk of experiencing) domestic and/or sexual violence and abuse.
  • First and foremost Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland (WAFNI) would like to see strong recognition of the impact of domestic and/or sexual violence and abuse on children and young people across all key Government policies and strategies.
  • WAFNI is becoming increasingly concerned with a notable lack of reference to, and focus upon, safeguarding children and young people from abuse in the home and in relationships in several recent Government strategy consultations such as Delivering Social Change for Children and Young People (March 2014) Cooperating to Safeguard Children and Young People in Northern Ireland (August 2015), Children and Young People’s Plan NI (December 2015) and more recently Safeguarding Board NI Draft Business Plan (January 2016).
  • Violence in the home is impacting on the lives of thousands of children and young people across Northern Ireland on a daily basis and it is vital that this is fully acknowledged and addressed in any strategy aimed at improving the lives of children and young people. We believe, the first step to ensuring children and young people, who experience violence and abuse in the home, have appropriate support to meet their needs, is a clear understanding and recognition of the issue at all levels, including government.
  • WAFNI strongly believes that adequate funding streams must be put in place to ensure the effective provision of support services for children and young people exposed to violence in the home and in relationships. Difficulties are currently experienced across the children’s sector in relation to sustainability of services for all children and young people. Across Women’s Aid sustaining the vital services delivered to children and young people in both refuge and community settings has become increasingly difficult. It is important to note that this work has been developed and delivered over the years in the absence of core funding. Women’s Aid across Northern Ireland has sustained and developed service delivery, within a myriad of funding arrangements, the majority of which have been short term. Sustainability for services has increasingly become a major priority for all Women’s Aid groups. This has been particularly evident in recent years with the withdrawal of certain funding streams such as the children’s fund and has meant a heavy dependency on short term funding arrangements such as Children in Need and Big Lottery Funding. This is not sustainable.
  • Additionally, WAFNI strongly believes that if children are to be supported effectively, safeguarded from harm and provided with a range of opportunities to help them reach their full potential, then services supporting and empowering mothers to protect and support their children must be available at the earliest possible stage. We therefore fully endorse the drive for early intervention inherent in the supporting themes of the strategy. It is important for all professionals to recognise the impact that domestic violence can have upon women’s physical and mental health, and take steps to identify domestic violence and prevent it. It is important for HSCTs to work in partnership with organisations such as Women’s Aid to enable mothers who have experienced domestic violence to be referred onto effective and sensitive support interventions, including personal development programmes such as You and Me, Mum and Journey to Freedom programmes.
  • Finally WAFNI would like to see more joined up working across all Government Departments, statutory bodies and the VCSE sector in working to address the needs of children and young people affected by domestic and/or sexual violence and abuse. There is a risk that Government strategies can be disconnected from each other, with Departments working in silosand we would particularly welcome clarification in relation to how the new strategy for children and young people in Northern Ireland will work to implement the recommendations presented in the Children’s Services Cooperation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015. We would also welcome clarification in relation to how the strategy and associated structures e.g. the thematic groups will strategically link with CYPSP and its associated structuresand with the sub groups attached to the new combined Government strategy for domestic and sexual violence, Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence in Northern Ireland 2013 - 2020,(due to be launched imminently) in particular the Children and Young People’s sub group. We strongly believe this link must be established. We would, therefore welcome clarification of plans or processes which will ensure proactive partnership working and information sharing across strategies and structures. In particular, we seek clarification on where responsibility sits for children and young people who are affected by domestic and/or sexual violence and abuse.
2. Effective and consistent preventative education, including key messages relating to keeping safe, healthy relationships and accessing support, for all children and young people in both primary and post primary education settings.
  • Given that one of the proposed themes for the new strategy is…making a gradual shift to preventative and early intervention approaches without compromising those children and young people who currently need our services most …WAFNI would like to see a clear emphasisupon working directly with children and young people to increase their understanding of keeping safe and to empower them to access support when necessary. This is the essence of prevention and can empower and enable young people to avoid potentially harmful situations or to avail of appropriate support when if and when they find themselves in danger.
  • We wish to emphasise the importance of preventative education to address and prevent experiences of domestic and sexual violence and abuse. WAFNI, over the last 6 years, has been instrumental in the development and delivery of effective preventative education focused upon developing schools capacity to promote and safeguard the welfare of all children and young people. Women’s Aid believes that preventative education work with all children and young people in schools and community settings is essential to ensure that attitudes within society are changed to the point where domestic violence is unacceptable and no child or young person is left without information or support.
  • We also believe that all teachers should have mandatory training to equip them with the necessary skills and resources to teach about and respond to disclosures of, domestic and sexual violence.
  • Through working in partnership with the Domestic and Sexual Violence Unit, DHSS&PS and the Department of Education, WAFNI has developed and implemented a strategic way forward, to ensure all children and young people in Northern Ireland will have access to preventative education programmes such as Helping Hands and Heading for Healthy Relationship (H4HR). To date this has been achieved through the development and roll out of an accredited training programme, in partnership with the Department of Education, which builds capacity for primary school teachers to deliver Helping Hands. This programme “Effective Communication Skills for Social Guardians Delivering Helping Hands” has been delivered to primary school teachers across the five Education and Library Board Areas since 2010 and is accredited through the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM). To date, 824 teachers from 553 schools have successfully completed the training.
  • WAFNI would like to see the importance of preventative education further recognised across the education sector, in the curriculum and across all levels and we call for a commitment from every single school across Northern Ireland to deliver upon its responsibilities to increase awareness of keeping safe messages and healthy relationships among pupils.
3.3. Quality mandatory professional training provision relating to the impact of domestic violence on children and young people and best practice response for all professionals working directly with children and young people, including teachers, health professionals, youth workers, community workers etc.
We believe all professionals must play their part in assessing need and responding to children and young people who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing domestic and/or sexual violence and abuse. To enable this to happen, we believe robust, quality assured training and development opportunities are crucial to support and empower professionals to identify and act upon concerns with confidence and understanding. We would like to see the importance of regular, mandatory, professional and quality assured training in relation to keeping children and young people safe for all professionals working with children, young people and families emphasised in the new strategy.
3a / For each issue you mentioned at Question 1. What evidence do you know of to support the need for the action you want to see happen?
  1. Sustainable quality supports and services for children and young people who have experienced (or are at risk of experiencing) domestic and/or sexual violence and abuse.
  • Research shows that often the smallest victims of domestic violence are the biggest.Violence in the home is impacting on the lives of children and young people across Northern Ireland on a daily basis.
  • PSNI statistics for 2014/15 show that 28,287incidents with a domestic motivation were reported, indicating that PSNI responded to a domestic incident every 19 minutes of every day of the year. Research[1] estimates that approximately 32,000 children and young people are victims of domestic violence. Additionally, Women’s Aid statistics for 2014 – 2015 show that 932 women and 689 children sought refuge, 6,267 one to one support sessions were held with children and young people in refuge, 3,567 women with 4,186 children accessed the Floating Support service. Additionally, during the year Women’s Aid staff attended 348 case conferences, wherethey advocated on behalf of the best interests of children involved.
  • Such statistics go some way to highlighting the extent and context of domestic violence in Northern Ireland as a safeguarding issue for children and young people and enable us, to begin to form a picture of how many children and young people are exposed to violence in the home on a daily basis. Children and young people will experience domestic violence in many ways and every experience will be different. The Hidden Victims Study[2] showed that 90% of children were aware of the violence, 75% had witnessed violence, 10% had witnessed sexual violence, 99% of children had seen their mothers crying or upset as a result of the violence and more than half of the women (52%) said their children had seen the resulting injuries. The Hidden Victims Study also showed that more than a quarter (27%) of the children involved had been hit or physically abused by the violent partner. Such statistics not only highlight the extent of children’s experiences of domestic violence but emphasise the importance of quality service provision to meet their needs.
  1. Effective and consistent preventative education, including key messages relating to keeping safe and accessing support for all children and young people in both primary and post primary education settings.
  • WAFNI strongly believes that eliminating abuse begins with preventing abuse.
  • CAADA (Now SafeLives) research[3] drawing upon 877 cases of children exposed to domestic violence revealed that 62% of children were also directly harmed as well as witnessing the abuse. Worryingly only 56% knew how to keep themselves safe.There is a clear opportunity to raise awareness of such issues in education settings and schools and colleges have a vital role to play in this.
  • Research shows that teenagers experience relationship violence and abuse in their lives. In fact, such research shows that young people can be particularly vulnerable to relationship abuse as they generally have a lack of experience around forming safe relationships. Young people may fail to recognise the early warning signs of abuse and may not realise that abusive behaviour is not acceptable. Over the past decade, various research studies have been conducted to highlight the extent of the problem among young people. Research conducted by NSPCC[4] among 1353 young people between ages of 13 and 17 showed that:
88% had experienced some form of intimate relationship.
25% of girls and 18% of boys reported some form of physical partner violence.
Nearly 75% of girls and 50% of boys reported emotional partner violence.
33% of girls and 16% of boys reported some form of sexual partner violence.
  • Another survey carried out by the NSPCC and Sugar magazine[5] (whose average readers are 15 year old girls) in 2006 found that 16% of those surveyed had been hit by a boyfriend and 6% had been forced to have sex.
  • Several studies on young people’s attitudes towards violence in relationships highlight a range of perceptions and attitudes, including an acceptance of abuse. One study[6], found that young men were more likely than young women to accept aggressive behaviour in relationships, justifying such behaviour by actions of the partner, such as unfaithfulness. An End Violence against Women poll in 2006[7]found that 95% of young people surveyed (age 16 -24) stated violence against a partner was unacceptable, however when given justifications, this figure dramatically decreased e.g. 27% thought it was okay for a boy to expect sex if a girl had been flirting with him. Additionally it found that that 40% of young people had been pressured to have sex.
  • The Northern Ireland Young People’s Behaviour and Attitudes survey 2014[8] showed that over two thirds (68%) pupils in years 11 and 12 have a boyfriend or girlfriend and 10% have had sexual intercourse. Approximately one tenth (11%) of pupils in years 11 and 12 think boyfriends who hit girlfriends once deserve a second chance in the relationship and slightly more (13%) think husbands who hit wives once deserve a second chance. Ten percent of pupils in years 11 and 12 think it is okay for a man to hit his girlfriend/wife if she has slept with someone else. Almost a quarter (22%) of pupils in years 11 and 12 think girlfriends who hit boyfriends once or wives who hit husbands once deserve a second chance. Almost a quarter (22%) of pupils in years 11 and 12 think it is okay for a woman to hit her boyfriend/husband if he has slept with someone else.
  • Acceptance of abuse in relationships can be further exacerbated by peer pressure and the status that is so often attached by young people, to being in a relationship. Abuse in teenage relationships can include (but is not limited to) jealousy, possessiveness, verbal abuse, cyber bullying, use of technology, stalking, emotional harassment, physical violence and sexual pressure.
  • Preventative education work with all children and young people in schools and community settings is essential, to ensure that environments are created where children and young people are empowered to take action to keep themselves safe and access support if and when they experience any form of abuse, or are presented with potentially harmful situations. We strongly believe therefore that preventive education programmes need to be built into the school curriculum at both primary and post primary levels.
  1. Quality mandatory professional training provision relating to the impact of domestic violence for all professionals working directly with children and young people, including teachers, youth workers, community workers etc. To equip them with knowledge and skills to provide best practice response.
  • There is a clear need for all organisations that come into contact with children and young people, to understand the context of domestic and sexual violence and abuse in their lives, to recognise symptoms and to know how to respond based upon best practice and multi-agency working.
  • Quality professional training can increase awareness of the issue and can build professional capacity to respond to abuse quickly and appropriately. Tailored training will also lead to increased confidence when dealing with safeguarding issues.
  • WAFNI, through its regional training programme aims to develop highly skilled and qualified staff across Northern Ireland and to educate, inform and challenge the public, media and other agencies of the impact and effects of domestic and sexual violence. We know from on-going evaluation and feedback fromagencies, how important this work is increasing awareness of domestic and sexual violence, informing best practice and equipping professionals to respond effectively to the needs of all victims.
  • During 2014 – 2015, 1334 representatives from external agencies attended training provided by WAFNI. Additionally in this year 161 teachers successfully completed the two-day ILM Development Award entitled: Effective Communication Skills for Social Guardians delivering Helping Hands. The importance of, and need for professional training can be reflected in the on-going feedback and comments received through evaluation such as:
I feel more equipped and knowledgeable.