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Listen
PARTICIPATION OVERVIEW
Children and young people affected by domestic abuse are respected, responsible and included
It is the right of all children to be active participants in the decisions and actions that affect their lives, in ways and at a pace which suit their age, stage and circumstances. The National Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan Framework reflects this fundamental principle recognising that, as one young person put it, 'an adult's point of view isn't always a child's perspective' and that children have an enormous capacity to influence and shape events around them. They can and want to be part of making a difference.
Each of the thirteen Priority Areas has been defined and developed in partnership with children and young people from across Scotland who have themselves experienced domestic abuse. Their perspectives on living with domestic abuse and on the services they have been in contact with have provided vital insight into the changes in culture and practice both agencies and communities need to work towards.
Children and young people have driven forward the agenda
They have -
- Given presentations and led discussions at National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group meetings.
- Input into emerging practice in the Getting it right Domestic Abuse Pathfinder.
- Contributed to research projects, such as Scottish Women's Aid's Moving House (Stafford et al, 2007) where they were involved in the commissioning, design and dissemination of the research as well as being research participants.
- Met with Ministers to put forward their concerns about services supporting children affected by domestic abuse, their experiences of services and their recommendations for improvement. A report from this meeting is available, titled Making a Difference: Young People Speak to Scottish Ministers about their Priorities for the National Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children and Young People (Houghton, 2008a).
- Taken part in consultation on the Delivery Plan Priority Areas. A report from this consultation is available, titled Consultation with Children and Young People with Experience of Domestic Abuse on Scottish Government National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group Draft Proposals (Smith et al, 2008)
Key to the Delivery Plan implementation over the next three years will be the participation of children and young people affected by domestic abuse. As such, specific provisions have been made under each of the Priority Areas to put in place structures and resources necessary to enable the participation of children and young people at every level of practice, from collectively taking a lead in developing or evaluating policy and services to individually having a say on how practitioners, agencies and communities should work together to meet their support needs and the needs of their family.
Priority Area 13 seeks to support the ongoing improvement of this area of work through addressing the knowledge and skills needs of practitioners and policy-makers to enable the effective and safe participation of children and young people affected by domestic abuse. It also looks at ways to build on the Delivery Plan's participation process to date and ensure children and young people continue to be a driving force behind the three-year implementation and review phase.
Priority Area 13
Ensure the ongoing participation of children and young people affected by domestic abuse in developing policy and practice to address domestic abuse.
Commitment
We will work with children and young people affected by domestic abuse to ensure that their needs, views and wishes drive the Delivery Plan implementation and review process. We will develop mechanisms to facilitate their involvement in the ongoing design of policy initiatives and the improvement and evaluation of children's services at both local and national level.
Rationale
It is vital for policy makers, practitioners and adults to uphold children's right to participate in decisions that affect them, particularly as they tell us that active participation - being listened to and taken seriously, being involved in solutions and decisions - helps children affected by domestic abuse to cope. ( Houghton, 2008b)
The recent inclusion and involvement of children in various research studies around domestic abuse has resulted in an emerging consensus that "children alone are able to provide first hand information about the awareness of their parent's conflict and the meaning they attach to it" ( Skopp et al, 2005), children are "agents of their own lives" ( Moss, 2002) sharing their own knowledge of the situation and exploring their own "nuanced and contextual decision-making processes" ( Mullender et al, 2002).
Their own unique perspective on what it's like to live with an abusive father or father figure, to move house or school, to maintain contact with the perpetrator and to be the recipient of services from a range of agencies should frame all policy initiatives which aim to improve outcomes for children affected by domestic abuse. Their perspective on what it's like to experience abuse in their own young relationships must also be understood and taken into consideration when developing policy and practice to address domestic abuse. ( Houghton, 2008b)
Many of the young people involved in the Delivery Group's work have previously taken part in initiatives, including Scottish Women's Aid's Listen Louder campaign, which have been instrumental in setting the political agenda and improving provision for children affected by domestic abuse. ( Houghton, 2006) The Scottish Parliament praised a young person representing children's Listen Louder appeal as 'as good a petitioner as we have seen' ( Scottish Parliament 2002, col 2432), an expert witness to the lives of children experiencing domestic abuse.
The vital contribution of children and young people to developing the Delivery Plan has also been acknowledged with current Ministers assuring Parliament that "their priorities and views have shaped the development of the plan" ( Scottish Parliament 2007, col 3471) and because of this experience "we are now working to increase involvement of children in that work" ( ibid).
What children and young people have told us
Young people with experience of domestic abuse discussed why it was important for adults to listen to young people in the recent project for Scotland's National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group - "Making a Difference: Young People Speak to Scottish Ministers about their Priorities" ( Houghton, 2008a):
J:I think they should listen because an adult's point of view isn't always a child's perspective, so they should listen just to get a child's point of view.
M :yeah, getting the view from a child is probably more clearly than getting it from an adult as well, cos the child knows…
J :knows it directly, not like from a parent that's sort of taken it for what they think that the child would think…
M :that way you're getting the child's feelings as well about it all. (J, girl, M, boy from Houghton, 2008a)
Their views mirror the expectations of all children to have their opinions taken into account and respected and to have their helping role acknowledged -
"Grown ups think they should hide it and shouldn't tell us, but we want to know. We want to be involved and we want our mums to talk with us about what they are going to do - we could help make decisions." (group interview in Mullender et al, 2002)
Children and young people are also clear about their role as advocates on behalf of other children, because children 'do not often get heard', and about their role as change-makers. Their enthusiasm to become involved in the Delivery Group's work stems from their wish 'to make things better' for other children and families and, crucially, from their knowledge that they can make things better. Children and young people know what needs to change but also, they know how things should change. As one young person put it, "we've had the support, we've seen what's right and what's wrong so we would have the best perception of how to improve it". (Houghton, 2008a)
How will we take this work forward
Actions: Year 1
- We will set up a robust participation process for young people to continue to provide advice to Ministers of children's current priorities and concerns, as quality assurance for the Delivery Plan. This process will be linked into a programme of local engagement activities across Scotland which will enable children and young people affected by domestic abuse to feed in their views, ideas and perspectives on the implementation of the Delivery Plan's Priority Areas.
- We will work to increase our understanding of children's perspectives of domestic abuse and of effective participation processes with children and young people affected by domestic abuse, especially with those children who are harder to reach. We will ensure that gaps in our knowledge are addressed through research or participation activities under relevant Delivery Plan Priority Areas. We will also work with research commissioners to ensure, where possible, that research methodologies are designed around innovative ways of working with children and young people, including consideration of children as research advisors and researchers.
- We will develop Guidance for practitioners and agencies on good practice engaging with children and young people affected by domestic abuse and we will pilot this Guidance in the Getting it right Domestic Abuse Pathfinder. As part of this pilot we will we develop training opportunities for practitioners to ensure they have the knowledge, skills and confidence to undertake effective participation work which improves outcomes both for children and agencies.
- We will ensure that information and learning around children's perspectives of domestic abuse and participation of children affected by domestic abuse is centrally available to all practitioners through relevant websites and we will ensure this information is updated regularly.
Actions: Future Work
- We will continue to support the participation of children and young people affected by domestic abuse in informing and developing policy. As part of the Delivery Plan review process we will organise a national event involving children and young people, Ministers, the Scottish Parliament, COSLA, the National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group and other stakeholders which will provide an opportunity and platform to mark progress in relation to the Delivery Plan implementation and set the agenda for future work.
- We will continue to maintain strategic oversight of the Delivery Plan programme to ensure that, where our knowledge about children's perspectives or processes of engagement is incomplete, this is addressed through research or through participation activities involving children and young people.
- We will review the Guidance and training initiatives on an ongoing basis in light of emerging research findings, outcomes of participation activities and feedback from practitioners, children and young people.
Key Outputs
- Increase in the number of children and young people affected by domestic abuse across Scotland who are actively involved, through the Advisory Group or through local engagement activities, in the work of the National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group.
- Development of guidance and workforce training opportunities, leading to an increase in the number of practitioners who have the skills, knowledge and resources to engage with children and young people affected by domestic abuse.
- Linked to the above, an increase in opportunities for children and young people to be actively involved in policy and practice development, in service delivery, activism and research across Scotland.
Outcomes
Action taken forward under the Delivery Plan will enable Government, local authorities and service providers working with children and young people to develop more responsive policy and practice informed by the needs, views and wishes of children and young people affected by domestic abuse.
Action taken forward under the Delivery Plan will therefore support Government, local authorities and service providers working with children and young people to contribute towards -
- Providing high quality, continually improving, efficient and responsive services according to local people's needs.
- 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: Safer Children, Stronger Families Division, Equality Division
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