Scottish Government

FINAL SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

9. FINAL SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Background

9.1 This document reports findings from an evaluation of the Scottish Government Children's Services Women's Aid Fund. Set up in 2006, the Fund reflected the commitment of Government in Scotland to address the significant problem of domestic abuse; within this the recognition that the needs of children experiencing domestic abuse were not being met.

9.2 The Fund was ambitious. The then Scottish Executive invested £6m (£3m in year 1, £3m in year 2) to enable an increase in specialist workers offering direct support to children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. It was intended that each Women's Aid Group in Scotland would be able to develop its children's service; to put in place 3 full-time workers offering support directly to children. It was to enhance Women's Aid traditional support to children in refuge; to increase its follow-on service to children when they moved on from refuge. Most challenging perhaps, and in response to increasing knowledge about the particular difficulties faced by children experiencing domestic abuse but who may still be living at home, the Fund was also to enable the development of an outreach service.
In 4 areas funding was provided to Local Authorities to deliver services.

Headline findings

Achievements

• All 43 projects set up under the scheme have made significant progress towards meeting all, or almost all, of the key aims of the scheme
• All projects achieved or nearly achieved the target of a minimum of three children's support workers in each Women's Aid group or local authority
• All projects enhanced support to children in refuge; to children leaving refuge and receiving follow-on support
• All projects were in the process of developing an outreach service to children experiencing domestic abuse but whose mothers were still living at home
• All projects enabled an increased number of children and young people to access a Women's Aid service
• The service children's support workers were offering was valued by children, their mothers and other professional stakeholders
• The service was available to a wider range of children
• Children's support workers were working in participative ways with children
• Partnership working between Women's Aid and other organisations was mainly positive - when issues arose, partners were working hard to understand each others perspectives and resolve them.

Challenges

9.3 Some challenges to future expansion of the service were highlighted:

• The lack of a stable funding base to sustain current levels of service into the future
• The lack of suitable premises for group-work
• Difficulties for rural areas in delivering a full range of services
• In the context of rapid service expansion some infrastructure challenges were evident.

We discuss the above in more detail below and have set out a number of recommendations from our research findings. These may be of use to practitioners, policy makers and all those involved in shaping future services to children and young people experiencing domestic abuse.

Methods and ethical considerations

9.4 The evaluation was extensive. It involved gathering information from all 43 projects set up under the Fund. A major part of the evaluation was 15 detailed case studies based in 10 sample projects and built around 15 individual children. Interviews were conducted with children and young people themselves, their mothers, key workers, siblings and a range of associated professionals. It provided detailed information about the working of the scheme from the perspective of children. Children's support workers were interviewed as part of the case studies and as key stakeholders. Service effectiveness interviews were conducted with Women's Aid service co-ordinators and collective staff. Views on the working of the scheme were sought from key professional stakeholders in partner organisations. Information from a large number of children receiving a service was gathered via the children's questionnaire; in all 258 children aged 8 - 16 responded.

9.5 Given that the research involved direct contact with children, young people and mothers, and mindful of their likely prior experience of domestic abuse, the research team gave careful consideration to ethical issues of: power, safety, confidentiality, child protection, privacy and consent.

9.6 Research access to Women's Aid groups was freely given. Of 10 sample projects initially chosen by the research team, all agreed to participate ⁹; workers were helpful in facilitating access to children and young people for interview. This made the research task easier. Other stakeholders too gave freely of their time.

Findings

Aim 1

9.7 Aim 1 of the scheme was to increase access by children and young people to Women's Aid services. Specific objectives were to increase the number of workers to the recommended level of 3 FTE in each project; to increase the number of dedicated hours each worker is able to spend with children and young people; to increase the flexibility and range of hours services are provided; to increase the number of children and young people accessing refuge, follow-on and outreach support.

9.8 The Fund enabled the reporting projects to meet or nearly meet the target of having three children's support workers in each Women's Aid group: one refuge, one refuge/follow-on, and one outreach worker. There was some evidence of projects using monies flexibly and innovatively to meet local need. Concern was expressed from a number of sources that continuing insecurity of funding could create problems in maintaining staffing levels in the future.

9.9 Progress was made towards meeting the aim of an increasing number of young people able to access a Women's Aid service, across all categories. In 2005/6 there were around 1223 young people receiving support in refuge. By 2006/7 this had risen to 1647; an increase of 424 young people receiving support. For young people receiving support in refuge and receiving follow-on support, there were 338 young people in 2005/6, rising to 854 in 2006/7; an increase of 516.

Table 8: Children and young people receiving support across all categories

9.10 Local authority partners and other stakeholders seem satisfied with service expansion. Reservations were raised about using numbers of young people worked with as an indicator of service quality and/or as a proxy for good outcomes for young people.

9.11 Reported data on numbers of young people accessing children's services at Women's Aid is sometimes difficult to obtain. Numbers of young people receiving service in refuge are accurately recorded. There are inconsistencies across projects developing new follow-on and outreach services in the way they record and count young people. Information from the projects suggests that the increase in the numbers of young people accessing an outreach service has been substantial.

9.12 The Fund also enabled progress to be made towards increasing the number of dedicated hours children's workers were able to spend with children and young people.
This was the case across all categories of work. Within this, however, there was considerable local variation. It varied from project to project; in response to the levels of needs of individual children presenting for service; and in relation to different types of work.
Across categories, staff working in refuge spend most time in direct contact with children. Again, Women's Aid staff, children and mothers, local authority partners and other stakeholders reported being satisfied with levels of support. A small number of children reported wanting to spend more time with children's support workers, this seemed to apply more to younger than older children, and to girls more than boys. There was some evidence of under-resourcing to support children at the highest level of need.

9.13 There was widespread agreement among stakeholders that children's services at Women's Aid were flexibly delivered, child centred and tailored to meet children's needs. There was evidence of out of hours and weekend contact at a level children wanted. Again, a minority of children reported they would have liked support workers around at times other than when they were. Out of hours contact with children seemed to be largely informally organised, largely initiated by families and mainly to involve contact over the phone to deal with particular problems or crises arising. Barriers to expansion of out of hours service were mentioned and included the need for suitable affordable premises and concerns about worker safety.

9.14 Projects reported effective mechanisms in place to identify and work with categories of 'hard to reach' children and young people. Definitions of 'hard to reach' groups differed across projects but often included; minority ethnic groups, children with disabilities, and children living in rural and island authorities. Some groups included children and young people experiencing domestic abuse but still living at home as a hard to reach group.
Local authority partners and other stakeholders were aware of and appreciated progress made by projects in striving to reach hard to reach groups. Outreach work and awareness raising in schools was seen as a particularly effective way of accessing hard to reach young people.

9.15 At the point of evaluation, some projects were at early stages in developing their outreach service. Partner organisations, other stakeholders and services themselves reported that the outreach service was operating effectively. The service is expanding with rapidly increasing levels of referral. Models and type of service offered as part of the outreach service varied greatly from project to project. A specific role for the outreach service is not yet well defined.

9.16 Most Women's Aid services demonstrated effective promotion of their children's services. There were a few examples of professionals and service users being unaware of Women's Aid services for children. Awareness training for other professionals was mentioned as an effective way of raising awareness of the service. Information from mothers suggests the need for Women's Aid to promote a modern image of refuge accommodation.

9.17 While the Fund has made an impact on increasing the access young people have to Women's Aid services a number of potential barriers to the future continued development of Women's Aid children's services were identified. These included, staff shortages, lack of time, lack of premises or appropriate premises. There were particular challenges for island communities and young people living in rural areas. Young people's reluctance to access services was identified as an additional barrier.

Aim 2

9.18 Progress has been made towards meeting the second aim of the scheme to have an increased range of specialist services that meet the diverse needs of young people; also towards the specific objectives of providing 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, ability appropriate and diverse services, and opportunities for children to build social networks.

9.19 Information from across the study; from case study interviews with children and young people, and from questionnaire returns, highlighted the important role children's support workers played in the lives of children with contact with Women's Aid and provided information about the extent to which they are valued by children. Mothers value them too; they see them as an important service for their children.

9.20 Most children's support workers provide services to a wide age range of children (from 0 -16) and support children demonstrating a very wide spectrum of need. The role is wide, incorporating a variety of tasks and activities; ranging from providing practical help and support to mothers and organising child care, schooling and other services, through to providing intensive support for highly traumatised teenagers.

9.21 Some children's workers identified benefits to providing support to mothers on parenting and relationships alongside support to children; this may produce better outcomes for children. This needs to be weighed against the importance young people place on having a worker they identify as theirs who is separate from their mother.

9.22 In every service contacted, staff reported that all children and young people had access to a one to one service if they wanted one. Case study information confirms this.
In questionnaire returns, more than 90% of children reported spending some time alone with their children support worker; this was valued.

9.23 The Fund also enabled an expansion of the group-work service to children within Women's Aid. In general this was working well and was appreciated by children and young people, and by their mothers. Partner organisations also valued the service. Some barriers to further expansion of the group-work service were identified. These included that the group-work service should be developed flexibly and according to need; it does not suit all children in all circumstances. There were a few examples of group-work not being offered for practical reasons, for example; in rural areas families are spread over wide areas; in one case it was curtailed because of a lack of appropriate facilities and premises. Where there is funding for transport, uptake is better; but this is not always available.

9.24 The key worker system seems to be working well. Children are allocated a key worker as soon as they come into the service. Children are aware they have a key worker or a worker for them. Where there needs to be a handover of worker this seems to be being handled carefully and well.

9.25 A wide range of age appropriate services are provided across all categories of service. The Fund has contributed to this being possible.

9.26 Staff are involved in an ongoing process of assessing the needs of and risks to children. The issue of safety is always high on the agenda. Tools and mechanisms for conducting assessments vary across projects; in most the process is relatively unstructured and informal.

9.27 Support plans are widely used by workers. Children are involved in developing them. There were a few children who did not know they had a support plan; some mothers did not know children had a support plan.

9.28 There were mixed views about the usefulness of the recording templates for the Scottish Government Fund. The main criticism was that they were very time consuming to complete and contained too much detail. Most however, felt that the new shorter version of the template had removed some duplication and was easier to complete. Some mentioned that they had been useful in enabling projects to reflect on their practice.

9.29 Staff viewed helping children to maintain and build social networks as an important part of their job. There are many examples of strenuous efforts being made to support young people in this. There are some examples of barriers illustrating how difficult it is to provide support in ways not stigmatising to young people. Rules about not being able to have friends in refuge are particularly difficult for children trying to maintain and build friendships. While school may be a convenient place to meet young people, care needs to be taken to ensure young people do not find it stigmatising; they may find it difficult to suggest alternative venues.

Aim 3

9.30 The third aim of the scheme was to ensure effective management and the delivery of practice standards. Specific objectives were to ensure services were registered and inspected by the Care Commission, to recruit workers with appropriate skills and knowledge, to ensure staff were trained in line with SSSC requirements and that they take account of the Protecting Children Framework for Standards.

9.31 The Fund has enabled the strengthening of operational management arrangements within Women's Aid. Services generally report adequate structures in place to manage and support staff working with vulnerable children and young people. This operates differently across projects and, is informally organised in some.

9.32 Children's support workers spend an appropriate balance of time on direct work with children and administration. Travel and time spent monitoring services and reporting, and time spent on funding applications were identified as barriers to time spent working with children.

9.33 The majority of projects funded under the scheme were registered or were seeking registration with the Care Commission. Most refuges are registered and inspected by the Care Commission but they tend to be registered as housing or as day care providers.
Criteria for registration is complex and groups have received considerable support from Scottish Women's Aid to support registration. Different decisions about the form registration should take have been made.

9.34 With regard to the role of a children's support worker, we have already mentioned that the current remit is very broad; that staff work with a wide age-range and have a broad spectrum of tasks. There is no single job description for the post. Staff in post currently have a broad range of skills, experience and qualifications. Many have formal qualifications; some have degrees.

9.35 Few problems were reported in relation to recruitment of staff to children's support workers posts. However, some problems with staff retention were reported. In some cases there was a high turnover of staff, bringing issues for service planning and in a few cases this has impinged on work with families. It is likely that uncertainty of funding, and the short term, fixed term nature of many of these posts has contributed to this.

9.36 With regard to staff development, the induction process provided by Women's Aid for children's support workers is thorough. Children's support workers are able to access an ongoing range of internally and externally provided training opportunities. The range of training available and accessed varies greatly across projects.

9.37 Services reported that they take account of the Protecting Children Framework for Standards. There is representation on child protection sub-groups and on Child Protection Committees. Given the nature of their involvement in the lives of families, the issue of child protection is a priority concern; staff were well aware of the complexities of working with this. There was also awareness of other relevant policies and procedures.

9.38 Women's Aid projects seem clear about when they need to share information about child protection. Generally Women's Aid staff and local authority and other partners reported few concerns with information sharing. The safety of women and children is a priority concern for Women's Aid staff. There are concerns about sharing information with staff in other organisations who may not appreciate the importance of confidentiality in the context of domestic abuse. There are examples where trust had been built over time between staff in organisations; there were other examples of where this had not yet happened.

Aim 4

9.39 The fourth of the stated aims of the Fund was to increase opportunities for young people to inform service development and participate in ongoing evaluation. The specific objectives were to seek children and young people's feedback and involve them in the development of services.

9.40 Women's Aid children's services are underpinned by the principle of children and young people being listened to, understood and respected. There were numerous examples provided of opportunities available to children and young people to influence the service they receive. Procedures for enabling young people to inform service development have become more formalised in recent years as services have become increasingly subject to external monitoring and evaluation. This has been largely positive. Staff report some barriers to young people's positive participation in relation to legal constraints, asking children to participate in too many evaluations and difficulties in obtaining critical feedback.

Aim 5

9.41 Aim 5 of the scheme was concerned with having effective partnership working.
The specific objectives were to develop good working relationships with relevant agencies including having information sharing protocols and advocating for young people experiencing domestic abuse in local planning networks.

9.42 Partnership working at strategic level and at the level of individual practice in general is working well. At strategic level, there was evidence of Fund resources being appropriately used to establish or further develop key relationships for partnership working. Local authority and other partners reported that the Fund had been useful in linking domestic abuse into Children's Services Planning, giving a focus to multi-agency planning and driving the agenda on children and domestic abuse. Local authority partners were aware that Women's Aid had a place on the relevant local authority forum and planning networks. There were examples of Women's Aid staff being aware of and integral to relevant local networks and forums. Some staff reported they did not yet feel comfortable on these groups. In some areas partnership working seems particularly well developed. Several areas reported having local multi-agency screening groups for domestic abuse and this seems to be effective in identifying young people who need a service.

9.43 At individual practice level, there were examples of cases where partnership working was minimal; in other cases it was extensive. Relationships with education varied. Some services reported that they had really good relationships with schools: others had taken time to develop trust. The developing outreach service seems key to continued positive developments in relation to this. While relationships with social work were in the main positive, minor issues have arisen, mainly around confidentiality, contact arrangements with fathers; sometimes work pressure issues. These issues seem to be being sensitively addressed and discussed.

Considerations for the future

Aims 1 and 2:- Increase Access by Children and Young People to Women's Aid Services; Specialist Services to Meet the Diverse Needs of Young People

1. Timely action is needed between Scottish Government, local authorities and Women's Aid groups to plan for continuation of the service at the end of the current funding period

2. Women's Aid Projects should gather consistent, accurate base-line data about numbers and throughput of young people receiving services; across all categories (in refuge and receiving follow-on and outreach support). It would be useful if this was held and collated nationally and information based on this fed back to projects

3. Women's Aid projects could consider introducing a more strategic approach to winding down and closing cases, to waiting lists, to allocating cases according to priority need

4. Women's Aid Projects should gather consistent and accurate base-line data about the number of hours children's support workers spend in direct contact with children and young people

5. Women's Aid projects should keep under review services to children with the greatest levels of need

6. Local authorities and Women's Aid groups may wish to consider addressing practical barriers which may make it difficult to further expand the group-work and outreach services; for example, difficulties of organising groups in rural areas; finding affordable, suitable premises to meet the different demands of new services

7. Women's Aid could consider setting up a national or centralised resource to meet out of hours and weekend demand for children's services; for example a helpline for children

8. Women's Aid projects should consider developing a more strategic approach to reaching hard to reach children and young people

9. Given the rapid expansion of the outreach service across Women's Aid, there may be benefit in taking stock of how this aspect of the service has developed. Greater clarity about the function and purpose of the outreach service and providing opportunities for practitioners to share positive practice experiences of the work may be useful

10. Women's Aid could give consideration to a campaign promoting a positive and modern image of refuges

11. New service development should take account of the extent to which children and young people value the service provided by children's support workers

12. There may be merit in reviewing the children's support worker post. Consideration could be given to splitting the post into distinct roles

13. Women's Aid children's support workers should continue to provide one to one support: this is valued by children

14. In providing a group-work service, Women's Aid projects should consider, where possible, ensuring they contain similar age children; that there are age appropriate activities for younger and older children; and for boys in particular

15. Women's Aid projects might consider adopting more formal processes for assessing risk to children

16. There may be merit in reviewing the use of support plans across Women's Aid groups. A more standard approach to case review processes should also be considered

17. Children's support workers should take care to ensure that meetings with children are in places where children feel comfortable and do not feel stigmatised, finding creative ways enable young people to maintain old friendships where possible and to build new social networks where this is needed

18. More formal support and supervision arrangements should be introduced in those Women's Aid projects where this is informally organised

19. Women's Aid projects may wish to consider streamlining and sharing administrative processes; including having specialist staff to negotiate budgets, deal with finance, be involved in business planning, and drive service development

20. Inconsistencies across Women's Aid children's services, where workers are doing similar jobs with different terms and conditions, should be addressed

21. Given the expansion of children's services within Women's Aid, it may be timely to review current terms of registration with the Care Commission

22. Staff in Women's Aid children's services may benefit from a more strategic approach to training and practice development

23. Women's Aid and partners should continue to work together to build trust and understanding in relation to information sharing concerns about the safety of women and children living with and experiencing domestic abuse

24. There were many positive examples of children and young people being able to influence the service they received. Developments in this direction should continue

25. Barriers to young people's positive participation including legal constraints, children being asked to participate in too many evaluations and difficulties in obtaining genuinely critical feedback should be kept under review by all partners

26. Consideration should be given to more formally reviewing partnership working in a year's time.