Communities and Culture Committee

Scrutiny Inquiry : Domestic Abuse

Response from Wrexham Children and Young People’s Services

03 June 2008

Jessica Wagner: 01978 267000

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Chris Reading
Clerk to the Committee
Assembly Parliamentary Service
Cardiff

Call for Evidence - Domestic abuse

I am the designated social worker for domestic abuse within Wrexham Children and Young People’s Services since April 2007. My post was initially established through funding from Children First in 2005 in order to meet the demands of the rising awareness of domestic abuse in Wrexham. Now my role is integrated within the Children and Young People’s Services and I am attached to the Child and Family Assessment Team, which is the first port of call for all referrals received. I work closely with the local Police Officer for domestic abuse on all referrals received in relation to domestic abuse. At this stage my role involves:

casework of high risk child protection cases involving domestic abuse, including the assessment of the impact of Domestic Abuse on children involved and to offer support to them
to offer advice, guidance and possibly training in respect of domestic abuse to other social workers and support staff within the department
to liaise and network with other agencies to discover further resources available within Wrexham and make such known within my department
to represent the department at the local MARAC

As I am new in post I have not had the opportunity to keep long term statistics of the referrals received, however within the last four consecutive weeks (07.04.08 until 02.05.08) the team had received 243 referrals overall, out of which I have counted 77 to be related to domestic abuse, which makes about 31%. My estimation at this stage is that we are likely to receive between fifteen and thirty referrals a week.

Working in this area within my current role but also through my previous experience in this area has drawn my attention to a few issues I feel important to raise.

I feel that services for woman with regards to domestic abuse appear to have greatly improved with the introduction of MARAC and the joint working of agencies such as Woman’s Aid, Victim Support and others. The local Child Protection Coordinator also sits and supports the MARAC meeting. However, I feel that some areas appear to still lack support services and resources:

The most significant one is finances: I have come across women leaving their partners who have been financially abused and dependent on their partners, as the perpetrator had been claiming the family’s benefits. When leaving the partner, women have to claim benefits in their own rights, however for such to be sorted and paid out does often take weeks, during which the women and their children are left with no financial means. I have been unable to find an appropriate budget to cater for such needs, and I feel that this is a major factor in women returning to their partners.

This becomes even more difficult when the situation involves women who are not entitled to public funds.

I have also found that the provision of safety equipment appears to have improved greatly and is now much easier accessible, however such are limited and funds and budgets are not always available. The provision of alarms and phones is again a vital part in trying to keep adults and children safe in their homes, but such a resource is still lacking.
I have found that services for men who wish to change their behaviour on a voluntary basis have increased, however so far I have met men who wish to address their anger problems through anger management rather than a course on domestic abuse (which they then do not fit the criteria for) and I have found that such a provision is not available on a voluntary basis. Whilst those men have not accepted the domestic abuse, I felt it was a step forward for them to accept that they have an anger problem.
Within my new role I am also planning to involve perpetrators of abuse in my work where possible, and whilst speaking to women on their own, offering support and advice, I am hoping to also invite and request for perpetrators to attend our offices so that they can be informed about consequences. I feel we are not yet strong enough to tackle perpetrators and have them take some responsibilities. I am of course aware that such is not always possible, however I feel that at times statutory services lean very heavily upon abused and traumatised parents in order to demand that they protect their children, and we often forget that such demands and the possibility of child protection conferences may actually confirm what their abusive partners have told them i.e. about being "unfit parents” and "about to lose their children”. I find that this at times is very punitive towards the victims; however there are many cases where child protection is an issue and such procedures cannot be prevented.
I further have felt that within Wrexham services for children have been limited. Whilst some services for post traumatic work are in place, although limited, I feel that we lack preventative work. Schools undertake sex education inn order to address teenage pregnancy however preventative work on domestic abuse for both girls and boys appears to be very limited. I feel that we could improve on such through integrated work around what is acceptable within a relationship and what is not and to raise awareness of domestic abuse from an early age on in order to prevent people getting caught in its vicious circle. I believe that until recently such a project had been available in Wrexham provided by a local agency, however this has finished and an application for further funding is currently being assessed. I feel that such a service would be invaluable to the children involved. I have also felt that women leaving their partners appear to be well supported generally, however are then often left to support their own children despite being traumatised themselves. I feel we could improve on this as well.
Last but not least I have learned about the establishment of the Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVA) and have found them to be a vital and invaluable resource to provide support to women going through the criminal justice system. I would hope that this role could be expanded and maintained.

As I am new in post the above is based upon my experiences prior to and since my starting the role as the Social Worker for Domestic Abuse.

Jessica Wagner
Social worker (Domestic Abuse)
Wrexham Children and Young People’s Services
Child and Family Assessment Team
3-5 Grosvenor Road
Wrexham LL11 1DB

TEL: 01978 267000

FAX: 01978 267131