1. THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT CHILDREN'S SERVICES WOMEN'S AID FUND: POLICY BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Scottish Government Children's Services Women's Aid Fund in its first year of operation (1st April 2006 - 31st March 2007). It is based on an analysis of the 43 Children's Services who received funding under the scheme.
Policy background
1.2 Policy developments relevant to the setting up of the Scottish Government Children's Services Women's Aid Fund can be traced back to the beginnings of devolution in Scotland, where Scotland's significant problem in relation to domestic abuse was recognised and prioritised through the Scottish Partnership on Domestic Abuse resulting in the National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland. Specific problems faced by children in this situation were also recognised:
'All women and children who experience abuse must receive support and services to enable them to identify their needs, to make choices and to have these needs addressed, as well as to participate in developing services to address their needs in the future. It should be recognised that children require services which meet their specific needs' (Scottish Executive 2000:7).
1.3 The strategy recommended urgent action to develop a clear understanding of the needs of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. Since then, this has been emphasised across a number of government reports, guidance and forums.
1.4 The Audit and Review of Child Protection (Scottish Executive 2002) recommended that children in this situation be regarded as 'in need' under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. It highlighted that a more comprehensive and unified approach to meeting the needs of young people experiencing domestic abuse was required (Scottish Executive 2002).
1.5 A mapping exercise was also conducted into the provision of services to children and young people experiencing domestic abuse (Stafford 2004). This highlighted gaps in service provision to this group of children; concluding that services were unevenly spread in a way not apparently related to need or population density; delivered in a way that seemed ad hoc, uncertain and uncertainly funded. It highlighted a particular lack of service to young people who had experienced domestic abuse but where there had been no contact with a Women's Aid refuge; also in the provision of direct, therapeutic specialist services to young people experiencing domestic abuse. It emphasised the need for a sustainable and coherent funding base for these services (Stafford 2004).
1.6 Scottish Executive guidance was issued to local authority children's services planners in 2004 to ensure the needs of young people experiencing domestic abuse were incorporated into key local planning documents and effective support for this group. It specifically asked planners to develop a strategic, integrated approach to providing the range of services to address their therapeutic, practical and support needs; to consider the requirement for increased specialist services, and improve and integrate the response of all agencies to increase partnership working and good practice in relation to this.
1.7 The Scottish Executive invested £6m (£3m in year 1, £3m in year 2) for specialist workers to offer direct support to children and young people experiencing domestic abuse.
It was to be in addition to the approximately £1.5m per year allocated by Local Authorities to these services. A total of 43 projects were funded through the Scottish Executive Children's Services Women's Aid Fund, to enable each Children's Service in Scotland to have a minimum of 3 full-time workers to offer; support in the Refuge(R); Refuge and Follow-on ( RFO) and Outreach work ( OR).
1.8 Each of these Children's Services exists within an individual autonomous organisation. Most of these organisations are Women's Aid Groups. Many of these Women's Aid groups are affiliated to Scottish Women's Aid and receive support and services from them, others are not. Irrespective of their affiliation status, there is great variation between how the different services operate and the procedures they adopt. It cannot be assumed therefore that practice which exists in one service is replicated in all or indeed any of the other services.
1.9 During the course of the evaluation, the Scottish Government provided a second tranche of funding.
1.10 In addition, as part of the 'Getting it right for every child' proposals, the Scottish Executive announced the Getting it right for every child Domestic Abuse Pathfinder projects Their purpose was to establish and pilot new ways of agencies working together to provide better support and intervention for children affected by domestic abuse. The pilot projects in four local authority areas are now operational. The National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group ( NDADG) was set up and is responsible for monitoring the pilots. Another role of the NDADG was to develop and implement a three year National Strategic Delivery Plan to address the needs of children and young people affected by domestic abuse. The Delivery Plan was published in June 2008 (Scottish Government, 2008). It sets out 13 Priorities for Action which have been resourced and will be progressed over three years.
1.11 The Fund was made available for the direct support of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. In setting up the Fund the then Scottish Executive set out the following conditions:
- This Fund will focus on working with local children's services planning partners to enhance Women's Aid direct specialist support for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. It works towards ensuring there is a minimum level of high quality service throughout Scotland, based on good practice recommendations
- The Fund will enhance and not replace current and planned expenditure on the Women's Aid children's service, therefore allocation of grant presumes the level of local authority funding will continue
- The Fund will be allocated on the basis of support for each Women's Aid Group to reach the recommended two full time workers (or equivalent) to provide refuge/follow on services to children and young people, and one outreach worker to support children in the wider community experiencing domestic abuse
- Funding submissions were to reflect the National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse (Scottish Executive 2000) and take forward action contained in the Guidance for Planners: Children and Young People Experiencing Domestic Abuse (Scottish Executive, 2004).
1.12 The funding was also to support:
- The Executive's vision that children in Scotland be 'safe, nurtured, healthy, active, achieving, respected, responsible, included'
- Commitment to the Children's Charter that agencies should 'get to know us, listen to us, take us seriously, involve us, respect our privacy, be responsible to us, think about our lives as a whole, think carefully about how to use information about us, put us in touch with the right people, use your power to help, make things happen when they should, help us be safe'
- The Getting it right for every child criteria for success and HM Inspectorate of Education ( HMIe) Quality Indicator Framework.
The aims of the Fund and the scope of the research
1.13 The Fund had 5 specific aims and objectives:
- Aim 1: Increase access of children and young people to Women's Aid services:- With specific objectives to: increase the number of workers to the recommended level of 3 full-time staff ( FTE) (2 Refuge/Refuge Follow-on Workers and 1 Outreach Worker) in each project; increase the number of dedicated hours each worker was able to spend with children and young people; increase the flexibility and range of hours services are provided; increase the number of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse accessing Refuge, Follow-on and Outreach support
- Aim 2: Have a wide range of specialist support services to meet the diverse needs of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse:- With specific objectives to provide: one to one support, a group-work service and to use a key worker approach. Projects were also asked to use holistic assessment, support plans and other tools, provide age appropriate and ability appropriate and diverse services, and provide opportunities to build social networks
- Aim 3: Ensure services to children and young people experiencing domestic abuse meet recommended practice standards:- With specific objectives to: ensure services are registered and inspected by the Care Commission; recruit workers with appropriate skills and knowledge; ensure staff are trained in line with SSSC requirements; take account of the protecting children framework for standards
- Aim 4: Ensure children and young people experiencing domestic abuse inform service developments; have opportunities to participate in evaluation of services:- With specific objectives to: seek children and young people's feedback; to involve children and young people in development of services
- Aim 5: Work in partnership to ensure children and young people experiencing domestic abuse get the help they need when they need it:- With specific objectives to: develop good working relationships with relevant agencies including information sharing protocols and advocating for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse in local planning networks.
1.14 The purpose of this research is to evaluate the 43 projects set up under the Fund in terms of the key aims listed above. The Report is structured around these five broad themes.