Response to the Thematic Report on Children Living with Domestic...

ADCS response to the thematic report on children living with domestic abuse from Ofsted, CQC, HMICFRS and HMIP
Commenting on the thematic report on children living with domestic abuse Alison Michalska, President of ADCS, said:
“Domestic abuse is so persistent and widespread, it is the most common factor in situations where children are at risk of serious harm in this country today. Whilst this report recognises that much good work is being done by local authorities and their partners across the country, the terrifying scale of this issue means that agencies have had to focus virtually all of their available resources on protecting children and victims from the immediate risk of harm, rather than on prevention, at which point the damage to children and victims has already been done. Some councils have had to cut back on non-statutory services, as our funding reduces, which means that vital support services for victims of domestic abuse aren’t always available or accessible despite the clear need for these services.
“Tackling domestic abuse effectively is complex; there is usually more than one victim and multiple risk factors at play. Domestic abuse is not limited to any ethnicity or sexual orientation and it occurs across a range of demographic divides. No one agency can effectively tackle this form of abuse alone and as the report states the most successful interventions seen were multi-agency based. Domestic violence can have a lifelong, devastating and intergenerational impact on victims and children. It is concerning to read that in some cases organisations described as relevant partners in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ statutory guidance did not ask about children’s welfare at all where domestic abuse was a factor.
“The report rightly highlights the need for a long-term strategy to reduce the prevalence of domestic abuse and we strongly support the call for a public health approach to tackling domestic abuse, including the development of a national public service campaign aimed at raising awareness of domestic abuse and violence. But we will not see the necessary shift from intervention at the point of crisis to prevention that we need to see without sufficient, sustainable funding from government. A shift to a more systematic focus on prevention and changing perpetrator behaviours is long overdue and the government must lead this endeavour from the front as a matter of urgency.”
ENDS
Related Articles
ADCS has published the full report of its latest iteration of Safeguarding...
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
For over a decade ADCS has collected both qualitative and quantitative data from...
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
Jenny Coles comment on DfE children looked after statistics
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
Safeguarding Pressures Phase 7 Interim Report
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
ADCS and LGA National Transfer Scheme consultation questionnaire response
In Asylum
Advice relating to minors returning from Syria
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
Jenny Coles responds to the national learning review on child criminal...
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
ADCS response to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s first...
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
Jenny Coles responds to the triennial analysis of SCRs 2014 to 2017 report
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
Too many young lives are being lost as a result of growing violence in our...
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
ADCS response to the Home Office consultation on the new knife crime prevention...
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
Jenny Coles comments on new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements
In Safeguarding & Child Protection
The term Contextual Safeguarding was first coined in 2015 and was introduced...