Safer Lives – Changed Lives 21 st July 2009 Graham Abrines - Coordinator Domestic Abuse Pathfinder Project Dumfries & Galloway

GIRFEC National DA Pathfinder Clydebank Dumfries and Galloway Falkirk North Edinburgh Our aim is to improve outcomes for children & young people affected by domestic abuse using GIRFEC principles & core components

Dumfries & Galloway

D&G’s journey – who’s involved Victims & their children Agency staff 2 Project staff Project Board – senior managers from participating agencies & lead officers from CPC, DAVAWP & Integrated Children’s Services Children’s Services Chief Officers Group

D&G’s journey - in the beginning Duplication No standard approach to recording Little or no “customer input” Information not shared with key people in children’s lives Information systems not compatible with one another Not core business

D&G’s Journey - The New Response Developed with victims, their children, staff & managers … and techies Proposes a tiered single or multi- agency response to each incident based initially on assessed risk to the victim. Seeks to provide children with help that is Appropriate, Proportionate & Timely

D&G’s journey What do practitioners/managers think? Agencies are receiving better information more timeously ~ Reduction in inappropriate referrals to Social Work and SCRA ~ Increased trust and better communication between agencies ~ Information has helped communication between teachers and pupils ~ Information has aided communication with victims and universal Health and Education services.

D&G’s journey What do victims think of services “Police did everything they could have done and they came back later to check I was alright.” “GP gave lots of good advice.” “The school’s involvement has been a positive thing. The HT spoke to the children & said he was there if they wanted to talk about anything. This has been especially helpful for my son because he’s feeling hurt & aggressive and they’re being understanding.” “Health visitor did everything she could have done, she was really helpful.” “Social Work are pushing things along, they’re helping a lot.”

D&G’s Journey - Lessons Learned  Chief Officer Buy in  Consultation from the start  Making connections  Multi-agency training  Business process mapping, a necessary evil  It is the day job, not an add on to it  Project management has been helpful  Start evaluating from the beginning  Keep it as simple as possible  Remember why we do it

Since the pathfinder began…… It has dealt with: 683 incidents involving 1187 children Information has been sent to: *57 primary schools, * 16 secondary schools *30 GP Practices SPECCSSS Assessments: 370 standard 224 medium, 61 high 21 very high Victims/repeats Out of 683 incidents, there have been 135 repeat families

For further information about any of the Pathfinders please contact the National Manager: For further information about the Pathfinder in Dumfries & Galloway please contact