Bristol review

Where disclosures of domestic abuse are made an appropriate risk assessment should be carried out

On-going domestic abuse awareness training should be mandatory. This should cover asking about issues of domestic abuse and knowing what to do about disclosures for all statutory and commissioned agencies and organisations.

To embed the CAADA DASH RIC for Young People within all safeguarding practices across all agencies, in a way which will ensure professionals and practitioners use this as a tool to ensure appropriate support, safety planning and onward referrals are considered where a young person discloses domestic abuse.

Raise awareness of the CAADA DASH RIC for Young People by incorporating into all MARAC and DASH training programmes.

Ensure that all contracts for commissioned services include adequate and appropriate training requirements that will ensure frontline practitioners are adequately trained, and understand the principles of safeguarding; and their responsibilities where Domestic Abuse is identified.

To embed the CAADA DASH RIC for Young People within all safeguarding practices across all agencies, in a way which will ensure professionals and practitioners use this as a tool to ensure appropriate support, safety planning and onward referrals are considered where a young person discloses domestic abuse.

Raise awareness of the CAADA DASH RIC for Young People by incorporating into all MARAC and DASH training programmes.

Ensure that all contracts for commissioned services include adequate and appropriate training requirements that will ensure frontline practitioners are adequately trained, and understand the principles of safeguarding; and their responsibilities where Domestic Abuse is identified.

Share the findings of this DHR with all 999 call takers so that they are aware of the significance of recording incidents as ‘domestic’ where the circumstances suggest that may be the case.

Where the circumstances surrounding a silent 999 call suggest that the situation may be domestic abuse, to err on the side of caution and record the incident as domestic abuse.

To continue with developments relating to information sharing in relation to vulnerable people

to review policies and protocols in relation to disclosures of domestic violence and abuse, and ensure that all staff receive appropriate training.

a specific question about domestic abuse should be considered as part of the assessment process

review the template for letters sent to service users following assessment to ensure the format and contents are empathetic. To consider adding a foot note apologising for any potential factual inaccuracies and requesting that the service user contacts the author to amend these.

to ensure that staff involve families and significant others in considering the role they might have in helping to manage and/or mitigate risks.

Pathway Plans should be carried out to make sure the young person’s voice is always heard. They should be completed with young person and where possible signed by the young person and the supervisor responsible for overseeing the support worker.

Given that young people often lack the skills to make good choices on their own, care leavers should be provided with mentoring services where this is assessed as needed.

Disruption Meetings exploring the reasons for placement breakdown and identifying learning and actions required to prevent future breakdowns in a child/young person’s care arrangements must be held.

Pathway Plans must be focussed on the future, aspirational and led by the young person and reflects their changing needs and ambitions.

South Gloucestershire council should consider the viability of having Path way Plan reviews Independently chaired, post 18 years of age.

Where a care leaver is an adult but is known to be in an abusive or vulnerable situation a risk assessment should always be undertaken and completed with that young person.

As a pro-active corporate parent, where there are known risks to a young person’s welfare or safety, steps to obtain consent for sharing information with key agencies and partners should be explored prior to case closure, Where consent is declined this should be clearly recorded and advice obtained as to whether threshold is met for dispensing with consent.

Any allegations or disclosures of abuse by a young person under 18yrs of age must be managed in accordance with the requirements of Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013.

The views of the child /young person must be sought and clearly recorded as should information from them enabling workers to understand the child/young person’s experience of daily life.

The School’s self-harm support procedures should be reviewed.

Renewed attempts should be made to find innovative ways to engage with families such as the victim's.

The surgery should consider additional training around patients with complex needs, and recognising the carer/abuser tension.

To recommend that IRIS training emphasize the challenges of balancing protective and potential abusive factors in patients who have mental health issues or complex health needs, particularly those who require a significant amount of care from family members or people with whom they are in an intimate relationship.

To recommend that the surgery checks that their IRIS training includes refresher training at three yearly intervals following the initial training package.

Training should be carried out with all staff around how to respond to disclosures of domestic violence and it should be a compulsory part of 1625 Independent People’s on-going programme of staff development.

This recommendation for training should extend to all services contracted to the council who support young people - using the young people’s CAADA DASH risk assessment tool should be routine in these organisations.

As a commissioned service, the contract should include an expectation that robust domestic abuse policies are in place, and training regarding safeguarding, including domestic abuse is implemented.

16-25 to support and encourage their staff to challenge young people in relation to unhealthy relationships, and to emphasise their role as a support organisation.

Risk assessments and robust support plans should always be in place. If they are not completed there should be some written explanations as to why not.

There should be better engagement with clients and more detailed record keeping.

Domestic Abuse training in ED should be reviewed to ensure that the contents include a focus on the vulnerabilities of young people, particularly young people who are Looked After or are care leavers under 21years and include the use of the Young Peoples CAADA-DASH toolkit

The process and forms for review health assessments for Looked After Children must be reviewed to ensure a holistic assessment is undertaken.

Following Looked After Children health assessments robust care plan must be formulated which include active intervention when risks such as excessive drinking, drug use, concerning sexual behaviour and relationships are identified and this must include a process to ensure follow up of any onward referrals.

All professionals must use the Young People’s CAADA-DASH toolkit in cases where a Looked After Child is identified as being in a potentially abusive relationship. They should also consider asking the sort of questions a parent would be asking if a young person was in a potentially coercive relationship.

As part of the provision of housing related support, to routinely request Risk Assessments from other agencies working with residents in order to gain a fuller picture of their circumstances

To deliver specialist domestic abuse training to staff to enable them to better identify potential domestic abuse