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Domestic violence

Notes for LSCB: Barnardo’s update of Domestic Violence Matrix (DVRIM)

The Munro review of Child protection has recently reported and amongst its recommendations stated that systems must be more fully focused on the needs of individual children, using assessment processes that enable professional judgment to be exercised.

Domestic abuse is a consistent feature of child protection cases and serious case reviews. It therefore continues to be a priority and Barnardo’s and the London Board have worked with London Boroughs and responded to their needs in assisting practitioners in identifying and assessing the impact of domestic abuse on children.
Following feedback taken by London Councils from boroughs, the DVRIM has been updated and includes new indicators, such as the abuse through texting or social networking sites. It is also interactive, enabling anyone to use the matrix on their computer and store the information for each child or family in pdf format.

It is not necessary to have training on the DVRIM. However, there are undoubted advantages of training in that multi-agency professionals get the opportunity to meet and share their understanding and experiences of domestic abuse, develop a shared language and greater consistency when it comes to communicating intra and inter-agency about domestic abuse and the impact on a child.
The DVRIM was developed to assist in this process and is particularly useful for workers having first contact with adults, children and young people in universal services, at thresholds one and two. The DVRIM is being used to screen for domestic abuse by health visitors in Northern Ireland as well as being used there and here, by social care practitioners to ‘threshold’ individual cases. This echoes with recent government reports on the importance of early intervention and identification of children with additional needs who are living in families with domestic violence.

At the request of boroughs, Barnardo’s has developed a 2 day Train the Trainer programme on the Risk Identification Matrix which will equip already accredited trainers with the knowledge and understanding to run the multi-agency briefings. This will enable boroughs to continue to train on the matrix ‘in-house’ and set domestic abuse in the local context of their own practice.

Safeguarding Children abused through domestic violence appendix 1: Risk Identification Matrix

London Pilot of Barnardos Domestic Violence Risk Assessment Training - 2009 update on findings

Following the 2008 seminar on the emerging findings from those boroughs piloting Barnardos' DV risk assessment training as part of their implementation of the London procedure for safeguarding children abused through domestic violence, the London Board held a follow up event to on May 13th 2009 to look at progress over the following 12 months – which included independent evaluations from three of the pilot areas and emerging findings from a number of other boroughs. All papers and presentations from the day are available to download via the links below:

Programme
Update on Barnardos domestic violence work in London (Vivienne Springer, Barnardos)
Evaluation of Barnardo’s domestic violence model in London (Martin C. Calder, Calder Training and Consultancy)
Safeguarding children abused through domestic violence: the Barnet experience (Helen Elliott and Lauren Scordilis, Barnet)
Bromley Barnados DV Training 2009 (Nicky Brownjohn, Bromley PCT)
Barnardo’s DVRAM Barking & Dagenham Pilot (Emma Gray, Barking and Dagenham)

London Pilot of Barnardos Northern Ireland Domestic Violence Risk Assessment Training - 2008 update on findings

In May 2008, three London boroughs - Barking and Dagenham, Barnet and Hammersmith and Fulham, were piloting Barnardos' full domestic violence risk assessment training programme as part of implementation of the domestic violence response in each borough. On Tuesday May 6th 2008, the London Board held a seminar on the emerging findings from the pilots, and all papers and presentations from the day are available to download via the links below:

Programme
Maddie Bell - Description of the Northern Ireland model and its relationship with the London Procedure for Safeguarding Children Abused Through Domestic Violence
Briony Ladbury - Domestic violence, health service perspective
Martin Calder - Domestic violence risk assessment: messages from Northern Ireland and Barnet pilot evaluations

The London procedure for safeguarding children abused through domestic violence

The London procedure for safeguarding children abused through domestic violence has now been approved by the London Safeguarding Children Board, and is available to download via the link below:

Safeguarding children abused through domestic violence

This procedure should assist any professional and volunteer whose work brings them into contact with children and their families, to prioritise the needs of a child/ren, assess the risk of harm to the child/ren (taking into consideration the needs of their parents / carers) and respond appropriately in sharing information, referring on etc.

The Barnardos Domestic Violence Risk Assessment Training

For more information on the Barnardos risk assessment training and matrix, please contact Trisha Kelly at trisha.kelly@barnardos.org.uk. This training supports implementation of the London procedure for safeguarding children abused through domestic violence - please see below for details of this training.

Barnardos domestic violence risk assessment training