Bradford review

Communicate to staff the importance of linking RSO nominals involved in an occurrence to the occurrence to ensure notification of the report to ViSor staff and via them to PPUs/ PPOs.

Review the need for whether additional training in domestic abuse, particularly the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, including Clare’s Law, and Coercion and Control, by officers working in offender management and child protection roles and if required, plan to deliver training.

Re-circulate local policy on the tasking of breach of bail suspects and monitor its implementation in Bradford District.

When there is an indication of risk for a child, BDCFT staff must engage with multi-agency services to gain clarity around this risk where possible. This will be implemented through safeguarding supervision, training and duty.

The recognition of the key learning from this DHR for BDCFT staff includes: 1) Risks to adolescents & boys to be given the same consideration & responses as those risks to younger children & girls 2) That staff professional curiosity is extended to adolescents including boys ensuring that they’re given the same safeguarding responses to younger children & girls.

Improve referral processes to ensure a consistent standard of risk information is provided by agencies transferring care packages in to the Project, as well as agencies referring to the Project.

Record all contact with family members and friends of service users in the service user record (as suppressed third party contact) irrespective of the type of contact and presence of the service user. The rationale for this contact should be recorded along with the interventions provided and whether the service user was present or aware of the contact.

The learning from this DHR will be used as an anonymized example in training and supervision to highlight the importance of addressing domestic violence with parents who don’t have full time care of their child/children.

Child and Family assessments will consider past and present domestic abuse of all adults in past and present relationships as well as the current conflict and how this may impact on the child. This will include consideration of the environment that the child lives in and visits regardless of whether the perpetrator is there to identify the impact on the quality of the child’s contact with a parent.

Victims of domestic abuse, or where domestic abuse is considered to be a possibility, will be given the opportunity to speak to professionals alone and in a safe space.

All GP practices will have a current Domestic Violence Policy which includes reference to how staff will be supported if they are experiencing domestic abuse.

The learning from this DHR is to be disseminated across all relevant staff groups in order that individual practitioners and managers can develop awareness and knowledge of coercive control and apply the lessons learned from this process.

Partnership agencies as employers can learn from this DHR to develop processes to support staff experiencing domestic abuse, and it is recommended that the agencies in the Community Safety Partnership consider examples such as: developing return to work interviews to include asking a routine enquiry about domestic abuse; and when any information indicates that a member of staff is experiencing domestic abuse, to be able to signpost staff to resources for their assistance, counselling or action to keep them safe; and to offer support for work-related issues to enable an employee to return to work and/or prevent further absence occurring.

The Panel therefore recommends that Bradford CSP develops its DHR process to enable the Independent Chair and Domestic Abuse Team to deliver a briefing to IMR authors before preparing IMRs, and a Lessons Learned workshop after completion of IMRs, with the aim of improving the cross-agency analysis.

Therefore, the Local Authority Domestic Abuse Team will work across West Yorkshire, and share this lesson learned nationally, with Safe Lives, to look for ways in which information can be shared.

As part of its dissemination of the learning of this and other DHRs, the Overview Panel will engage with the judiciary, to seek ways in which information about offender risk can be shared and challenged, to inform bail or other hearings. This will be an opportunity to discuss with the judiciary and legal representatives, the development of domestic abuse legislation, policy and practice.

The CSP will therefore seek assurance that the voice of older young people in households where there is domestic abuse, is not ignored. Further, that service providers consider developing specific pathways for additional age-appropriate support.

When assessing risk, it is important to take a multi-dimensional view of risks posed by individuals. The questions in the DASH template are multi-dimensional and can be used to encourage practitioners to think laterally about risk. This learning is to be promulgated across agencies through debriefing from this Review.

The Domestic Abuse Team will review the CBMBC website and improve information, to include guidance on the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, and advice for family members who feel isolated and unable to offer a source of support to a child.