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Listen
5. Summary and Conclusions
Background
5.1 Three consultation events were held with children and young people with experience of domestic abuse ( CYPEDA) on the Scottish Government National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group Draft Proposals. The purpose of the consultation events was to provide a voice to young people in the shaping of the proposals.
5.2 Thirty three children and young people aged between 8 and 16, took part in the events: a mix of boys and girls; young people from urban and rural areas; and from a range of ethnic origins.
5.3 The events were organised around the 16 proposals produced by the Scottish Government National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group ( NDADG.
5.4 The original proposals were translated in advance into a set of 'child-friendly' proposals each based on the original. The events comprised a series of facilitated exercises organised around one or more of the proposals, and around the broad themes of : (1) 'Why adults should listen to us; (2) Support I Need; (3) Help from others; (4) Keeping children safe; (5) Getting the message out, and (6) Why adults should listen to us.
5.5 Strong themes emerged from the consultation events. These provided practical, valuable input for the work of the NDADG and were taken into account in drafting the final proposals.
Specific Findings and Conclusions
Sessions 1 and 2 - (Proposals 1, 2, 3) - Why adults should listen to us
5.6 Across the consultations, young people expressed the view that much could be achieved by listening to children and young people. The consultation events themselves demonstrated the commitment of the Scottish Government to ensuring the voices of young people experiencing domestic abuse were heard and taken into account in the shaping of the proposals. The participation of young people at the events demonstrated their willingness and ability to make a meaningful contribution. Young people felt that by being listened to, adults could better understand the situation they were in and their feelings about it.
Session 3 - (Proposals 13, 14, 16) - Support I Need
5.7 Children's Support Workers: Respondents valued and recognised the benefits of a Children's Support Worker focused on them and their needs. Given the difficulties and complexities in their lives (often including, having to move home, change school, issues of fear and concerns about safety), Child Support Workers were seen as trusted and accessible; as a source of information and support.
5.8 Group work opportunities: Overall, opportunities to talk in groups with other young people who may have had similar experiences were seen as potentially beneficial. Notes of caution were also raised. Young people highlighted that young people experiencing domestic abuse are a diverse group. Support should be tailored to them individually. Participants suggested that before setting up groups, care should be taken to ensure young people are ready to discuss personal issues with others. Guarantees of confidentiality, control over the management of personal information and the need for informed consent were important considerations. The need to be able to access one to one support in addition to groups was also raised.
5.9 New technology as a way of communicating with young people: Young people appreciated the benefits of new technology as a vehicle for providing support and as an effective means of communicating with young people in this situation. Concern about confidentiality meant that some young people reported they would find it difficult to trust these communication platforms. Practical difficulties were raised about how to access a phone or computer in a confidential way. In general new technology and phones were less favoured as a means of support than face to face communication.
Session 4 - (Proposals 4, 9, 10) - Help from others
5.10 Teachers: Young people's views of the kind of help a teacher might offer to someone experiencing domestic abuse were mixed. Responses suggested that young people's prior experiences of teachers was key to whether or not they viewed teachers as a potential source of support or as someone to whom they might disclose domestic abuse. Some did see teachers as a potential source of advice and help, but only if they were a particularly 'good' teacher. Others reported that they would not talk to a teacher because teachers were not perceived as sympathetic or dependable. Again, there were concerns about trust and confidentiality, and this could prevent disclosure.
5.11 Other Professionals: With regard to support from other professionals such as doctors, nurses, social workers and police; young people seemed ambivalent about trusting, approaching and talking to them about their experiences. While the potential help they could give was recognised, there was concern about how information would be handled and this might not be in a way the young person would want. Their prior experiences of professionals was key to understanding current perceptions and attitudes to decisions about whether or not they were seen as people who could help. Disclosing domestic abuse to a professional risked information being passed on out with their control; something about which young people were extremely wary.
Session 5 - (Proposals 15, 8, 11, 7) - Keeping Children Safe
5.12 Proposals on safety, court procedures, legal measures regarding access, and perpetrator programmes were the most difficult proposals to consult on. This was partly because of their personal nature and partly because young people's views seemed dependent on having had direct experience of them.
5.13 New refuge accommodation: Young people identified that sharing space in refuges with other families could be difficult; they felt positively about new style refuges. The benefits that refuges afforded included being near other young people with similar experiences. However, this needed to be combined with the need for privacy.
5.14 Staying at home: The benefits of there being a genuinely safe option where the perpetrator would movie and young people and mothers were able to stay at home and in their local area was recognised as important. However, young people could not conceive of ways in which this could happen safely. Caution was expressed and young people's support for this would be dependent on this being demonstrated to work in practice.
5.15 Programmes for men who abuse: Participants felt that perpetrators should be offered help to change their behaviour. However, programmes needed to be judged on the extent to which they were successful in practice.
5.16 Court procedures: For some young people, discussion of court issues raised complicated issues. Some reported they had felt confused about what was going on at court. A faster, more informed court process would be welcome.
5.17 Contact arrangements: Contact was a complicated, emotional issue for some of the young people who were consulted. Contact with perpetrators needed to be safe for young people and their mothers. Proposed developments would be judged on the extent to which they were successful.
Session 6 - Proposals 4 and 6) - Getting the message out
5.18 Involving young people in future development of the delivery plan: with regard to proposals about consulting young people on the future development of the delivery plan, young people felt this was important because adults do not understand and are not always good at listening. Where young people are given the opportunity to contribute, participants felt they could do so usefully. There was a strong desire among the young people to be listened to.
5.19 Findings and Conclusions: Major Themes
- There was support in principle from young people for all of the proposals
- Young people gave careful consideration to the proposals and to how they might operate in practice; they expressed some caution about supporting them unreservedly until it was demonstrated they would work in practice
- In relation to all of the proposals young people had concerns about confidentiality and privacy, about to the ability to control the flow of personal information, and there were concerns about trust
- Participants expressed the importance of the proposals contributing to young people being and feeling safe.
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