National Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children and Young People

PRIMARY PREVENTION THROUGH EDUCATION OVERVIEW

All children and young people are respected, responsible and achieving

For children and young people living with domestic abuse, school is often their one place of safety. Without a doubt though, the stress and instability in their home environment can prevent them from getting the most from their educational experience. They may struggle to concentrate and meet the demands of the curriculum. They sometimes exhibit serious behavioural disturbances, leading them to be labeled as 'troublesome' or 'disruptive' in class. Their attendance can also be erratic. Many children have to move house and school, sometimes more then once, to get away from the perpetrator. Young people will often truant in the hope that staying at home with their mother will help keep her safe.

Furthermore, children and young people are likely to blame themselves for the violence at home with detrimental effect on their confidence and their self esteem. They may find it difficult to form friendships and they are at increased risk of being bullied. Fear and stigma associated with disclosing domestic abuse adds to their vulnerability. Children learn from an early age that domestic abuse must be kept secret. Their silence is a coping strategy but one which isolates them further from their peers and from adults in their lives.

As universal services, schools can play a crucial role in the early identification and support for children and families affected by domestic abuse. The whole school community is uniquely positioned to break down the silence and stigma surrounding domestic abuse and to help these children achieve their full potential. It is also uniquely positioned to challenge the attitudes and behaviours that give rise to discrimination or abuse, and to ensure children and young people have opportunities, through the curriculum, to develop empathy, resilience and respect for self and others. These two activities are interlinked. Where schools are successfully engaged in challenging and preventing violence or abuse, children in those schools will have the confidence to talk about their own experiences knowing that they will be respected and supported.

There already exist a number of prevention education initiatives which can help schools in Scotland foster a culture that promotes equality for everyone and empowers children and young people to take responsibility for their actions and negotiate their relationships without using violence or abuse. The Delivery Plan Priority Area 10 builds on these existing initiatives and on recent policy developments, including Happy, Safe & Achieving their Potential and A Curriculum for Excellence. It aims to ensure that schools and school staff are sufficiently skilled and resourced to contribute to the prevention of domestic abuse and to the early identification and support of children affected by such abuse. It outlines action to increase education professionals' understanding of the nature and impact of domestic abuse and to help them integrate work to promote gender equality and healthy relationships across the curriculum.

Schools, however, cannot work in isolation to improve outcomes for children living with domestic abuse or to prevent domestic abuse in the future. They are only one element, albeit a crucial one, within a child's wider network which includes the child's family, friends and the services or facilities they access. A holistic approach to children affected by domestic abuse, underpinned by Getting it right principles and values, requires many different agencies and individuals working together to ensure that interventions are both proportionate and responsive to their needs. Equally, it is the personal responsibility of everyone within a child's network to act as a role model and help children learn skills to develop healthy relationships in preparation for their future roles in society. Messages about gender equality, respect and non-violence - if they are to be effective - should be reinforced across the whole community. In particular, they should be reinforced across services designed to provide children and young people with positive learning opportunities. These include statutory or voluntary youth projects and organisations working with 'at risk' groups such as young people excluded from mainstream education, young parents or young offenders. Research also shows that, where possible, involving parents in the relationship education of their children, greatly enhances children's learning experience. In turn, this may contribute to increasing parents' own understanding and ability to respond to the issues.

At local level, a strategic community-based approach to domestic abuse prevention education should seek to build schools' capacity to respond holistically to the support needs of children affected by domestic abuse, through strengthening the links between schools and networks of services for children and families. It should seek to support the extension of prevention initiatives beyond schools to other settings, including youth projects. Finally, it should promote opportunities for whole communities, both children and adults, to become involved, collectively and individually, in action to end domestic abuse and other forms of violence or discrimination.

Many local authorities in Scotland are already leading in the development of coordinated community-based approaches to domestic abuse prevention education, often within a broader agenda to tackle all forms of violence against women and linked into the provision of services for victims of abuse and interventions that hold perpetrators to account. Other local authorities, however, still have some way to go. Action under Priority Area 11 focuses on improving the consistency of community-based domestic abuse prevention education across Scotland, drawing on learning from those areas where progress has been most marked to identify the most appropriate resources and guidance needed to support local practice. Key to this is creating robust networks which promote information-sharing and joint-working opportunities between practitioners involved in prevention initiatives locally, and enable constructive dialogue between these practitioners and policy makers in government.

Without a doubt children and young people themselves are the most effective change-makers. Research shows that the majority of boys and girls think that domestic abuse is not acceptable, and that their views can have a positive influence on the attitude and behaviour of their peers and adults. They understand that domestic abuse is a widespread and serious social problem and want opportunities to take responsibility for preventing it. Equally, they want the knowledge and skills to help their friends who may be experiencing domestic abuse within their home environment or their own relationships. Priority Area 12 explores ways that will enable children and young people to take a lead in raising awareness about domestic abuse, through national public education campaigns and initiatives, recognising that children's voices and views are different and, in many ways, more powerful than adults'. It also looks at ways to develop, in partnership with children and young people, resources such as websites and phone-lines, which will enable them to independently access information and advice, so that they know what to do and where they can get help if they, or their friends, are affected by domestic abuse. The provision of anonymous, confidential sources of information and support is especially important for children and young people who are themselves living with domestic abuse and who are likely to fear the stigma and consequences of directly disclosing abuse to others.

Priority Area 10

Improve the way that schools and school staff respond to domestic abuse and to the additional support needs of children and young people affected by domestic abuse.

Commitment

We will identify and take forward action to ensure schools - including pre-school - and school staff are skilled and resourced to contribute to the prevention, understanding and elimination of domestic abuse through the curriculum, including as it does the teaching, the culture and ethos of a school and the support for learning provided to children, young people and their families.

Rationale

Education represents the principal mechanism by which society is able to influence future generations. Prevention work with children and young people is not just about changing attitudes and influencing behaviour, although that is its main focus. In raising the issues, it also produces a need to support children and young people who may have been abused themselves or witnessed the abuse of their mother. ( Preventing Domestic Abuse - A National Strategy, 2003)

The "Raising the Issue of Domestic Abuse in School" Study revealed that 32% of pupils in one secondary school in Scotland disclosed anonymously that they were currently experiencing domestic abuse. ( Alexander et al, 2005)

A recent Scottish study involving 1395 young people aged 14-18 found that a third of young men and a sixth of young women thought that using violence in intimate relationships was acceptable under certain circumstances. The same study found that 17% of young women had experienced violence or abuse in their own relationships with a boyfriend. ( Burman & Cartmel, 2005)

To address these attitudes and behaviours, a whole-school approach to promoting healthy relationships will ensure the work is embedded in the curriculum and wider school activities, and will aim to develop a non-violent school culture. Proceeding from the bottom-line value of respect, domestic abuse prevention education initiatives should focus on attaining equality and respect for everyone whilst acknowledging gender inequality and making the links to other forms of violence reduction in areas such as homophobia, racism and bullying. Education on these issues should start early and be reinforced at all stages of the curriculum. ( Ellis, 2008).

A robust approach to improving the way schools respond to domestic abuse will involve ensuring school staff have the knowledge base, skills and resources to take ownership of delivering prevention education initiatives and to provide a caring and nurturing environment for pupils with experience of such abuse. Key to this approach is linking schools into a network of external specialist agencies able to meet the continuing professional development needs of school staff and to contribute to the holistic support of children, young people and their families. Also key is providing children and young people themselves with the skills and understanding to support their friends and peers who are affected by domestic abuse. Building on existing programmes in schools, such as peer mentoring or befriending initiatives, is an effective way of achieving this. ( Ellis, 2008)

The delivery of prevention education around domestic abuse will support better outcomes for children, young people and their families under a number of Scottish policy initiatives including the Curriculum for Excellence, the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007, the Additional Support for Learning Code of Practice, the Gender Equality Duty, Restorative justice in schools, Happy, Safe & Achieving their Potential and Healthy Respect, the National Demonstration Project on Sexual Health & Relationships.

Because of the relatively high parent-staff contact time in nurseries, and because it is often the mother who becomes more involved in the child's pre-school education, pre-school staff tend to receive a significant number of disclosures. Awareness-raising amongst nursery staff, including providing them with information leaflets they can pass on to parents, is likely to be an important mechanism for early identification of domestic abuse. ( National Children & Young People's Network, 2007)

What children and young people have told us

Children vividly describe how living with domestic abuse affects their experience of life in school. Some children were scared to even go to school -

"Because I was scared in case, like, he battered her and she went away and then I went hame and she wasnae there and it was just me left and him." (Girl 13 in Stafford et al, 2007)

Others spoke of being bullied or of difficulties maintaining friends, and about their schoolwork suffering -

"I went from a straight 'A' student to failing every class because I was concentrating on what was going on at home" (Girl in Houghton, 2008a)

All children and young people consulted on the Delivery Plan felt that a priority should be "making more help available at school" ( Houghton, 2008a) as children's own experience of getting help in school was not always positive -

"When you're at school, teachers don't always understand, they don't know how to react to you, sometimes some of them get it, some of them don't. So I think we need to teach teachers how to respect the pupils experiencing (domestic abuse) situations, maybe make allowances, now that sounds like an excuse but if you've got a big homework assignment and you're sleeping on a floor they don't get it and you try to explain it to them and they just say right that's an excuse, 'whatever', they wont believe you." (Boy in Houghton, 2008a)

As well as teachers, children felt that other pupils should know more about domestic abuse -

"Not only is teachers an issue it's also students at the schools they sometimes won't treat you very nicely at all and I've personal experience of this, and this all over can ead to students being very depressed and not wanting to go to school, at all, so its important that we change that and get students and teachers and staff to understand this." (Boy in Houghton, 2008a)

The children that did mention positive support from school spoke about the teachers being nice, keeping things confidential, making a cuppa and dealing with any problems with lessons straight away "because of what we've been through" ( Girl 14 in Stafford et al, 2007). As one child put it - "the best help I got was from there (from school)" ( Child in Stafford et al, 2007)

Crucially though, children were clear that comfort and support wasn't always enough. What they needed in many cases was help to stop the abuse, not just for themselves but also for their mothers -

"I used to tell teachers and my friends at school what he (the father) was like and they, I could see they believed me but they couldn't do anything about it. … it didn't really help me a lot because they didn't really help me help my mum" (Jackie aged 19 in McGee, 2000)

One of the recommendations put forward by young people to Ministers was that there should be trained support available in school - "somebody in the school that can actually help", who they felt could also help teach the teachers ( Houghton, 2008a). This recommendation is mirrored in the accounts of other children - for example one ten year old girl valued the fact that she could visit a special childworker once a week in the school who "speaks to people and sort of just checks out how you are feeling" ( Stafford et al, 2007).

How will we take this work forward

Actions: Year 1

We will support the development of a toolkit for school staff linked into the Personal Support in Schools online resource. The toolkit, which will draw on existing practice examples from across Scotland, including practice in the Getting it right Domestic Abuse Pathfinder areas, will provide comprehensive information and advice on delivering prevention education initiatives and supporting children affected by domestic abuse.
We will support the completion of a review of existing resources which can help schools progress work to address domestic abuse through the curriculum and include this review in the toolkit.
In conjunction with colleagues in Learning & Teaching Scotland, in the Personal Support in Schools Network and local schools and specialist domestic abuse service providers, we will commission a pilot and evaluation of the toolkit implementation. An integral element of the pilot design will be identifying how best external specialist organisations may contribute to supporting school staff, through the provision of training and through interagency working, to deliver prevention education initiatives and meet the needs of children affected by domestic abuse.
We will work with colleagues in Government and Learning & Teaching Scotland taking forward the development of A Curriculum for Excellence to ensure domestic abuse prevention education is embedded into relevant strands of the curriculum and we will work with colleagues in the Educational Institute of Scotland ( EIS) and HM Inspectorate of Education ( HMiE) to ensure that schools are supported and recognised for the work they do to address domestic abuse.
In partnership with children and young people, Learning & Teaching Scotland, the Violence Reduction Unit and external experts involved in developing or delivering prevention education initiatives, we will contribute to the development of cross-curricular, 'thematic' resources which will enable school staff in primary and secondary schools to address domestic abuse as part of an integrated response to violence prevention, equalities and healthy relationships at all stages of the curriculum.

Actions: Future Work

We will use knowledge gained through developing and piloting the Personal Support in Schools toolkit to inform the ongoing improvement of provision for school staff delivering prevention education initiatives or supporting children affected by domestic abuse. A key focus will be ensuring all school staff in Scotland have access to high quality continuous professional development opportunities through training offered by external specialist organisations or through online resources such as GLOW.
We will work closely with colleagues in Learning & Teaching Scotland and relevant agencies to ensure that the toolkit itself continues to be a valuable, up-to-date and accessible resource.
We will continue to learn from pupils and staff in schools and from external professionals to identify emerging practice, for example curricular resources or peer support programmes, which improve the way that schools respond to domestic abuse and we will support the replication of this practice across other schools in Scotland.
We will continue to build our relationship with colleagues in Government and Learning & Teaching Scotland involved in developing A Curriculum for Excellence, as well as other emerging education policy areas to ensure that addressing domestic abuse is embedded into day-to-day school practice.
We will work in partnership with Learning & Teaching Scotland and colleagues involved in
pre-school education provision to adapt the Personal Support in Schools toolkit on domestic abuse and its implementation approaches for pre-school settings.

Key Outputs

Production and dissemination of the domestic abuse toolkit linked into the Personal Support in Schools online resource.
Review of existing resources and production of new resources based on evidence of need, clearly linked into the emerging Curriculum for Excellence, the Health Promoting Schools agenda and other relevant Education policy initiatives.
Development of workforce training initiatives aimed at improving school staff's knowledge, skills and attitudes around domestic abuse, leading to increased proportion of schools engaging in domestic abuse prevention education and a corresponding increase in number of children and young people across Scotland gaining skills and knowledge to develop healthy, non-violent relationships based on respect and mutuality.
Linked to above, increase in the knowledge base, skills and confidence of school staff to provide support to children and young people affected by domestic abuse and better joined-up working between schools and external specialist agencies, leading to improved outcomes for this group of children and young people.

Outcomes

Action taken forward under the Delivery Plan will support Local Education Authorities, schools and schools staff, to mainstream domestic abuse prevention work into the curriculum within a broader equalities and healthy relationships agenda, and to provide support for children and young people identified as being affected by domestic abuse where appropriate through linking up with external specialist organisations. It will also build the capacity of the range of education bodies, including the Educational Institute of Scotland, HMiE and Learning & Teaching Scotland, to support schools in taking this work forward.

Action taken forward under the Delivery Plan will therefore support Local Education Authorities, schools, schools staff and education bodies, including HMiE and Learning & Teaching Scotland, to contribute towards -

Ensuring all young people, including young people affected by domestic abuse, are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.
Developing strong, resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others.
Tackling the significant inequalities in Scottish society.
Improving the life chances for children, young people and families at risk as a consequence of domestic abuse.

Lead Government Division: Support for Learning Division

Priority Area 11

Support individuals, organisations and communities across Scotland to engage in local action aimed at preventing and reducing the harm caused by domestic abuse to children, young people, their families and communities.

Commitment

In partnership with the National Group to Address Violence Against Women and colleagues in relevant national and local organisations we will identify and take forward action to build the capacity of agencies and practitioners working across relevant sectors - in particular the education, youth, community and violence against women sectors -
at local level to develop and implement strategic, community-based approaches to domestic abuse prevention education.

Rationale

A community-based approach to domestic abuse prevention education supports practice which promotes and enables individual or collective action to end abuse. The main vehicles for this approach are schools. However, employing a wider community-based strategy to domestic abuse prevention education is viewed as greatly enhancing the outcomes of work in schools and is also effective in mobilising the community so domestic abuse is seen as and responded to as a social issue of collective concern. ( Ellis, 2008).

A community prevention strategy would, in the first instance, place schools within a robust network of external organisations working together to ensure the quality of curriculum-based domestic abuse prevention education work and to meet the needs of children, young people and their families affected by such abuse. It would seek to support the delivery of prevention education initiatives in organisational settings other than schools, and to enable the community itself to identify and take forward action to address domestic abuse. To be effective, such a strategy would also seek to make the links between the prevention of domestic abuse and broader equality or violence reduction agendas. ( Ellis, 2008).

Over the past few years, a wealth of innovative local initiatives has emerged in Scotland, including examples of progressive partnerships between schools and local specialist organisations such as Women's Aid or Rape Crisis, curriculum resources developed by children, peer education or support and parenting initiatives, prevention programmes targeted specifically at men and whole-community campaigning activities around domestic abuse or broader violence against women issues. Lack of robust information-sharing networks between practitioners involved in domestic abuse prevention means, however, that opportunities to learn from and replicate such initiatives across different organisations and local authorities are consistently missed ( National Children & Young People's Network, 2007).

Despite the fact that all local authorities are taking steps towards developing a community-based strategy to preventing domestic abuse, practice, including take-up of prevention initiatives from schools, remains patchy and inconsistent across Scotland. A number of factors have been identified which can support local practice, including the existence of a national strategic framework such as that provided by Preventing Domestic Abuse - A National Strategy, and of local Violence Against Women Multi-Agency Partnerships ( VAWMAPs) which place priority on resourcing this area of work and have strong links into Council Education Departments and community planning structures. In certain areas, the existence of a dedicated post-holder whose role it is to coordinate the development, delivery and evaluation of prevention initiatives across schools and other organisations has been highlighted as particularly crucial in establishing and sustaining progress. ( Ellis, 2008)

What children and young people have told us

This Delivery Plan section looks at capacity building activities to support the development of schools and community-based prevention work and local campaigning activities. Most of what children and young people have said about these areas has been highlighted in relevant sections.

The headline message from all children and young people is that tackling domestic abuse is a community responsibility and that everyone can play a part in helping people who have been affected by domestic abuse ( Houghton, 2006; Houghton, 2008a; Houghton, 2008b). For many children, relatives can be an important source of help -

"Mum's family - they could have supported us more and told Mum, 'If you break up with him we will look after you.' But, this didn't happen. One uncle really helped and looked after us. They were there for her and for us." (14 year old South Asian boy in Mullender et al, 2002)

For children, though, friends can be their greatest support. McGee (2000) suggests that children are clear that their friends can meet their emotional needs, it is for the adults to sort out the problem and give practical help.

"I feel more happier when I talk about it, than keeping it inside. It helps because they know what I've been through and they know what me mum's been through and it helps a lot" (Kara age 10 talking about her friends in McGee, 2000)

How will we take this work forward

Actions: Year 1

We will work with the National Group to Address Violence Against Women to ensure VAWMAPs have the guidance and information they need to develop local prevention education strategies which are consistent with the new National Performance Framework and with the theory and principles of the Preventing Domestic Abuse - A National Strategy, the Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children & Young People and the forthcoming Violence Against Women Strategic Framework.
In partnership with the National Group to Address Violence Against Women we will also ensure that the ongoing implementation of the Domestic Abuse - A National Training Strategy takes into account the workforce development needs of practitioners and agencies involved in developing or delivering prevention education initiatives at local level.
We will work closely with colleagues taking forward Respect and Responsibility, the Early Years Strategy, the Youth Strategy and Action on Violence in Scotland to ensure that community based approaches to preventing domestic abuse are integrated, at policy and practice level, with broader community-based violence and abuse prevention initiatives and initiatives that promote equality and healthy relationships.
We will identify, strengthen and support structures and mechanisms which facilitate information-sharing and partnership working between professionals developing or delivering domestic abuse and violence against women prevention education initiatives in schools, youth and community settings across Scotland. In particular, we will build the capacity of the emerging National Children & Young People's Network and we will ensure that the Network develops robust lines of communication with national policy making forums.
We will consult with each local authority to identify strengths, opportunities and requirements to developing community-based domestic abuse prevention initiatives, recognising that the strengths and requirements in each area will be different. Drawing on this consultation, we will work intensively with agencies that form VAWMAPs and with other relevant local government structures and departments to put in place the resources needed to develop, implement and evaluate local approaches to preventing domestic abuse.

Actions: Future Work

Through the National Children & Young People's Network, we will continue to map out emerging initiatives on an ongoing basis and we will identify opportunities to support the replication of effective practice across different local authority areas of Scotland.
We will continue to work with the National Group to Address Violence Against Women, local community planning and safety partnerships to evaluate progress taking forward a strategic approach to community-based domestic abuse prevention education and to work towards ensuring that progress is sustainable beyond the Delivery Plan's implementation phase.

Key Outputs

Development of workforce training initiatives aimed at improving practitioners' knowledge, skills and attitudes around domestic abuse, leading to an increase in the number of practitioners across the informal youth and community sectors in Scotland who have the knowledge, skills and resources to develop and deliver domestic abuse prevention education initiatives.
Increase in the number of practitioners actively involved in the National Children and Young People's Network and reporting positive outcomes from their involvement.
Progressive increase in capacity across local authorities in Scotland, through the provision of guidance and resources including funding, to develop and implement a strategic, community-based approach to preventing domestic abuse.

Outcomes

Action taken forward under the Delivery Plan will help build the capacity of local authorities, community planning/community safety partnerships and the range of local agencies to make demonstrable progress towards developing and implementing a strategic, community-based approach to preventing domestic abuse, leading to greater awareness of domestic abuse and understanding of its impact on children and families among agencies and communities. It will also lead to increased community involvement in effective action to prevent domestic abuse.

Action taken forward under the Delivery Plan will therefore support local authorities, community planning/community safety partnerships and the range of local agencies to contribute towards -

Developing strong, resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others.
Tackling the significant inequalities in Scottish society.
Ensuring all young people, including young people affected by domestic abuse, are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.
Improving the life chances for children, young people and families at risk as a consequence of domestic abuse.

Lead Government Division: Equality Unit

Priority Area 12

Ensure the general public understands the impact of domestic abuse on children and young people from the perspective of children and young people, and ensure children and young people themselves know what to do and where to get help if they are affected by domestic abuse.

Commitment

With children and young people, we will develop a national public education campaign on domestic abuse targeted at children and young people and linked into community-based education initiatives at local level. We will develop a range of national and local communication resources for children and young people affected by domestic abuse (and their friends and peers).

Rationale

Due to Government's high-profile public education campaigning activities around domestic abuse, the majority of adults in Scotland will be aware that domestic abuse affects children too. Where many adults lack understanding, however, is about the impact of domestic abuse on children from children's perspectives and about what children say will help them cope with and survive their experiences.

Children and young people themselves lack knowledge of what to do when there is domestic abuse, how to talk about it, what help is available and how to be 'a good friend' for their experiencing peers. ( Houghton, 2008b) Public education campaigns targeted at children and young people rarely employ TV ads but focus instead on using platforms that are age appropriate and that children and young people feel a degree of ownership of, including locations in child friendly settings such as schools or virtual media settings such as websites. Evidence suggests that these campaigns are significantly more effective if high profile media activities complement community-based education initiatives that directly engage children, young people and their communities. ( Ellis, 2008)

Children who fear the stigma or consequences of disclosing domestic abuse need sources of information or support they can access without being identified ( Houghton, 2008b). There is currently no dedicated national domestic abuse website or helpline for children and young people in Scotland though a number of national websites including www.domesticabuse.org.uk carry information about domestic abuse targeted at young people. Statistics from the Scottish Domestic Abuse Helpline indicate that around 5% of callers are under the age of 16.

At a local level, several Women's Aid groups and other agencies working with children currently offer email-based support services as well as less interactive forms of communication for children affected by domestic abuse (or children concerned about friends) such as information leaflets or posters. A number of organisations, such as Children 1st, also run websites, help-lines/text-lines or email-based support services for children. None of these services, however, are specifically targeted at children affected by domestic abuse.

What children and young people have told us

Many children do not know what to do if they, or their friends, are affected by domestic abuse ( Smith et al, 2008; Houghton, 2008b). As one of the young people advising Ministers in Scotland said -

"It's about getting it out, let people know that the help is there, and it can be accessed through schools and other organisations. Not a lot of children and young people that go through domestic abuse know where the help is and how to access it, and you need to let them know. Some that don't go through domestic abuse but know someone that is going through it might want to seek help so that they could help their friend so therefore they could get as much information as possible and so they could pass it on." (Boy in Houghton, 2008a)

Support for campaigning and advertising activities, to get the message out to people, was almost unanimous amongst the children and young people consulted on the Delivery Plan ( Smith et al, 2008). Children felt strongly that these activities should be developed by children and young people with children in mind, that campaigns shouldn't be dark but should be associating ending abuse and getting help. Crucially, they should also employ language that children can understand and can use. ( Houghton, 2008a)

Websites were seen as a potential way of enabling people to access information when they needed it and without anyone knowing although some children had little faith in security of websites and believed they could be "hacked into" by anyone. ( Smith et al, 2008)

The lack of trust about being able to maintain confidentiality with regard to websites was echoed in relation to email. Many felt the 'human element' was also problematic - if a young person did not know the individual at the other end of the email they would not trust them and so would not use the service. Similar issues were raised about helplines. There were anxieties about a different person answering the helpline for each call and the importance of being able to talk to the same person was raised. However if the child or young person could contact their support worker via the helpline many of these points would be addressed. ( Smith et al, 2008)

How will we take this work forward

Actions: Year 1

We will ensure that the annual Scottish Government Domestic Abuse Campaign (targeted at adults) accurately reflects the perspectives and experiences of children and young people where appropriate, that it improves the general public's understanding of the impact of domestic abuse on children and increases public (especially adult victims') confidence in the approach services will take to help children affected by domestic abuse.
We will set up a programme of participation to enable children and young people to contribute to the development of the national public education campaign and website, and we will provide children and young people with the support and resources they need to make the most of their involvement in this work.
In partnership with children and young people we will develop a three-year programme of national campaigning activities. The campaigning activities will aim to raise awareness about the impact of domestic abuse on children; about sources of help and support and about ways in which children, families, communities and agencies can address the harm that arises as a consequence of domestic abuse.

Actions: Year 1 - continued

We will communicate this programme to local partners and work with them to ensure they have the support and information necessary to enable planning for community-based education initiatives linked into the campaign, and for potential increases in demand for services as a result of the campaign activities.
We will commission an annual evaluation of the national campaign and we will use findings from this evaluation to inform campaign development over the three years.
Working with children and young people, we will develop and pilot a national website linked into other communication resources (e.g. helpline) for all children and young people to coincide with the launch of the first campaign theme, which will include information and resources on addressing domestic abuse experienced in the home and in young people's own relationships.

Actions: Future Work

We will continue to take forward the implementation of the three three-year programme of national campaigning activities, ensuring that these activities encourage and enable the development of local community-based domestic abuse prevention initiatives.
We will explore options to further develop sources of confidential, accessible support for children and young people affected by domestic abuse, such as developing a national email-based service and strengthening the links between the website and local virtual and helpline support services.

Key Outputs

Development and implementation of a three-year campaign action plan, leading to an increase in the general public's understanding of the impact of domestic abuse on children and young people from the perspective of children and young people and greater awareness of sources of help and support for children affected by domestic abuse.
Development of a range of communication resources for children and young people leading to an increase in children and young people's understanding of the nature and impact of domestic abuse and greater awareness of sources of help and support they can access if they (or their friends) are affected by domestic abuse with a corresponding increase in the number of individuals accessing the national domestic abuse website for children and young people and associated support services.

Outcomes

Action taken forward under the Delivery Plan will enable Government, local authorities and key national and local organisations to raise awareness amongst the general public of the impact of domestic abuse on children and young people, and build the capacity of individuals and communities to provide advice and support to children and young people affected by domestic abuse.

Action taken forward under the Delivery Plan will therefore support Government, local authorities and key national and local organisations to contribute towards -

Developing strong, resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others.
Tackling the significant inequalities in Scottish society.
Ensuring young people affected by domestic abuse are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.
Improving the life chances for children, young people and families at risk as a consequence of domestic abuse.

Lead Government Division: Equality Unit

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