An Overview

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CHESHIRE DOMESTIC ABUSE PARTNERSHIPCelebrating
the Home Office Violence Against Women Project

• An Overview
• CDAP Chair Sue Bridge
• Social Services

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CHESHSIRE DOMESTIC ABUSE PARTNERSHIP

• Origins
• Achievements
• Factors of successful partnership working
• The Strategic Agenda
• Home Office Project
• Wider wins
• Future to dos
• Sustainability
• Celebration

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Cheshire Domestic Abuse Partnership

• Formally set up December 1997
• AIM Toprovide a forum for effective on
  Domestic Violence and Abuse in order to improve
  the safety of those affected, more usually women
  and children
• The Partnership recognises the detrimental
  effects of Domestic Violence and abuse,
  particularly on women and children, and seeks to
  highlight and address the disadvantage and social
  exclusion which often follow
• To place the experience of WAFE and local
  Refuges, through Cheshire Refuge Forum at the
  centre of the agenda

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Achievements of Partnership

• Information for professionals and leaflets
• Training Programme since 1998 (2000 multi-agency
  staff trained two levels)
• Womens Aid and Refuges informing agenda
• Trained multi-agency trainers
• Linking to Probation and NSPCC Perpetrator
  programme
• Home Office Crime Reduction Programme, Violence
  Against Women

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Other Local Progress Linked to Partnership

• Zero Tolerance Campaign 1998 Chester City
  Council
• Midwifery screening and training
• Agencies have policies reflecting CDAP definition
  
• (eg. Police, Probation, CCC, NSPCC, Midwifery
  (across whole of Cheshire)
• Crime and Disorder Partnerships

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Factors for successful Partnership Work

• Councillors raising the issue 1997
• Experience and expertise of Womens Aid central
• Huge enthusiasm and trust
• CDAP members reflect the local boroughs and Crime
  and Disorder Partnerships as well as countywide
  agencies and groups eg. ACPC
• Government Agenda-
• SSI Guidance 1995
• Home Office Multi-Agency guidance 1999
• Health Practitioners Guidance 2000
• Success in Training etc factor in successful bid
  to Home Office 2000
• Influencing the wider strategic agenda
• GAPS addressed by HO Project, informed by
  research and evidence based practice

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John Denham Home Office Minister for Crime
Reduction, Community Safety and Policing

• It is vital that local authorities, relevant
  agencies and police forces co-operate to build
  local strategies. The work to address domestic
  violence requires more than funding, it demands
  close co-operation between organisations of all
  kinds, education, information and understanding,
  and with that we can effect change
• John Denham
• Chair of Cross Ministerial
• Domestic Violence Group, set up Dec 2001

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Home Office Violence Against Women Project shape
a Data Monitoring Project
b Police Interventions
e Education legal issues
Home Office Domestic Violence Project
cd Cheshire Domestic Violence Outreach
Services
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Home Office Violence Against Women Project
Achievements

• DATA MONITORING PROJECT
• Database set up which is multi-agency and
  reflects Home Office data and good practice NACRO
• Data sharing protocol
• Shown that DV is a significant factor for
  Cheshire
• Findings suggest that Proactive Preventive
  approaches can tackle both the human and service
  costs
• Qualitative feedback from women using services
• the importance of positive response to achieve
  better outcomes for them and their children
• Using data/evidence base to monitor progress,
  inform the strategic agenda and increase
  awareness
• eg. Crime and Disorder Partnerships
• Police Newsletters
• Public Health Reports

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What has the Home Office Project in Cheshire
achieved?

• Police Initiatives
• Data monitoring electronic transfer
• Width of data collected has enhanced both police
  and partners perception of problem
• Enhanced evidence gathering via Polaroid Cameras
• Personal safety devices mobile phones and
  alarms
• High level of very positive partnership work
• eg. Pilot qualitative survey with Crewe Womens
  Aid 1998
• Involvement of Cheshire Refuge Forum and other
  agencies in development of DV Personal Safety
  video

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What has the Home Office Project in Cheshire
achieved?

• Cheshire Domestic Violence Outreach Service
• Annual Target of supporting 360 women exceeded
  need for service as part of essential provision
  alongside Refuges
• Evidence of reaching hard to reach groups ie.
  Women in rural settings and from ethnic
  minorities
• Service set up to very high professional
  standards
• Successful because of training for workers and
  volunteers, good interagency networking and based
  on WAFE principles of good practice
• Work with DVLOs and other agencies
• The moving testimony of women using the service
• Now, I can see a light at the end of the
  tunnel
• before I could not even see the tunnel

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What has the Home Office Project in Cheshire
achieved?

• Education Project
• Addressing long term prevention attitudes to
  violence in relationships
• Addressing provision for dealing with disclosure
  by children and parents in schools
• Exciting work with nearly 100 schools primary
  and secondary - to date
• Partnership with Ellesmere Port and Vale Royal
  Crime and Disorder Partnerships to ensure DV
  addressed in all local schools. Also CRIMEBEAT
• Involvement of Cheshire Refuge forum, Outreach
  and others in developing materials

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Wider Wins for the Partnership

• All projects interlinked and give each other
  added value
• DV seen as central to key planning agenda-
• - crime and disorder
• - Local Strategic Partnership and Cheshire
  Community Strategy
• Understood as critical to Health Inequalities and
  social exclusion agenda and in Local Preventative
  Planning for children
• Needs of children living with DV clear from data.
  Also women asking for provision for their
  children

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Addressing the needs of young people affected by
domestic violence

• CHILDRENS FUND
• Joint working between refuges, Outreach, NSPCC
• Extension of specialist childrens services
• Extension of work with parents
• Extension of work with parents and children
  together
• They (Womens Aid) gave me help to get my
  confidence
• back and to never give up. I got my daughter
  back out of
• care and it was from help of the Womens Aid.
  When I
• was with my ex he used to say that if I left
  hed find me
• and kill me and my family and I believed him.

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ROSIE WINTERTON MPParliamentary Secretary at the
Lord Chancellors Department

• The government is trying to change attitudes
  across the board to domestic violence and to make
  sure it is understood that children are the
  indirect victimsAlso that domestic violence is
  an underlying cause for social exclusion for
  women and children, with poor attainment for
  children, often involvement in youth crime,
  mental health problems etc.
• Rosie Winterton has responsibility for family
  policy, social exclusion and CAFCASS

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Still to do...

• Still await Home Office Evaluation
• Increase numbers of agencies involved in Data
  sharing and increase input by most agencies
  already involved
• Engage more with GP practices and AE departments
  (early warning signs)
• Explore mental health issues in light of Womens
  Mental Health into the mainstream
• To explore idea of mutli-agency action at a local
  level in severe repeat incidents, eg. ASBO model?
• Voluntary Perpetrator programme?
• Provision needed for CPS to be more involved in
  CDAP in light of new CPS DV Policy
• To extend work already done with Magistrates and
  Judges locally, in relation to sentencing and
  contact
• Training for employers on good practice

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SUSTAINABLE FUNDING

• CDAP strategy June 2002 sharing the cost
• 18 Statutory Agencies approached
• Those who have agreed to contribute from
• March 2003-
• Cheshire County Council Social Services
• Education
• Cheshire Constabulary
• Cheshire Probation
• Vale Royal Borough Council
• Crime Disorder Partnerships Chester,
  Ellesmere Port, Vale Royal, Crewe Congleton
• Crimebeat
• NB All PCTs and Cheshire and Wirral Partnership
  Trust all have DV in their 3 year spending plans
  but we do not yet know how much funding this
  means.
• HOME OFFICE up to 50 of last years funding

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Wish List for the Home Office and Inter
Ministerial Group

• We applaud the increasingly high profile of the
  issue andask that
• Include reduction of Domestic Violence and rape
  in National Crime Targets and match the
  equivalent amount of money available for
  combating other crimes such as burglary, vehicle
  theft and street crime
• Include monitored targets for the reduction of
  domestic violence and abuse in all statutory
  service delivery
• Ensure that DofH guidance etc reflects the fact
  that DV is a key under-pinning cause of social
  exclusion, health inequalities and in relation to
  better outcomes for children including all
  Preventative Planning for vulnerable children
• Develop a long term national strategy which
  incorporates the evaluation of HOCRP (VAW)
  Projects to ensure the sustainability of what
  works at a national level

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Celebration

• Sound financial footing for refuges at last via
  supporting people
• CDAP initiatives now have bulk of funding for
  this coming year and first steps on the road to
  sustainability have been taken
• 3 years involvement with the Home Office and
  evaluators very positive even if demanding!
• 941 women and 1489 children have been helped
  through CDVOS to take steps to end their abuse