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PRESS RELEASE: Thursday 16th May 2013

Teenage victims of abuse to be offered improved support

A new programme funded by the Department of Education will improve support for teenagers aged 13 – 17 experiencing a wide range of interpersonal violence and abuse, including domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, gang-related violence, cyber stalking, ‘honour'-based violence and forced marriage.

De livered by a partnership led by the national domestic abuse charity CAADA , the two-year programme aims to support local safeguarding teams to provide an improved response to vulnerable young people, in light of the recent change to the definition of domestic abuse to include younger victims.¹ Intensive training, regional guidance and research will be offered to local councils in England , to strengthen their work with vulnerable young people.

Research shows that thousands of young people are affected by domestic abuse in their relationships, as well as an emerging range of co-occuring violence.^{2 3} CAADA's own research reveals that specialist support for teenagers is badly needed: in 2012, 67% of teenage victims supported by an adult domestic abuse service experienced severe abuse, including strangulation, broken bones, rape and stalking. Nearly a third attend A&E because of their injuries and 22% were pregnant.⁴

The programme was devised and will be delivered by five sector specialists:

• CAADA will manage activity and brings expertise in relation to domestic violence;

• Barnardo's brings sexual exploitation expertise;

• Leap Confronting Conflict brings expertise on working with young people in gangs who cause harm to others;

• Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) brings ‘honour' based Violence/forced marriage expertise;

• Marie Collins Foundation brings expertise in relation to online abuse.

Edward Timpson, Minister for Children and Families, said: “Last year, we asked voluntary and community organisations to come forward with innovative projects to improve outcomes for children and families and the response has been extremely positive.

“The process was very competitive, and I am pleased to announce that CAADA and partners have been successful in securing funding. This funding will benefit vulnerable young people who have experienced a range of interpersonal violence and abuse.”

Diana Barran, Chief Executive of CAADA said: “Some teenagers are vulnerable to multiple forms of domestic and interpersonal abuse, including sexual exploitation, online stalking, gang involvement, forced marriage and ‘honour'-based violence. Our research shows that the violence they experience can escalate extremely quickly and takes similar forms to that suffered by adults.

As a number of recent high profile cases have shown, it's extremely easy for vulnerable young people to fall through the gaps of service provision. Improved local support is badly needed and for this reason we're delighted to be launching this programme alongside our partner charities.”

Libby Fry, Assistant Director, Barnardo's London Region Children's Services , said: “We are delighted to join this partnership which builds on our track record of delivering support for teenagers, who are subject to sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse involving coercion and control, by delivering specialist training to young people's advocates. Barnardo's has a UK wide network of services working with young people affected by domestic abuse and child sexual exploitation as well as other forms of violence.”

Tink Palmer, Chief Executive of the Marie Collins Foundation said: “Recognising that young people may be subject to domestic violence is an important recent development in our understanding of the ways in which they may be harmed by others. Early intervention is essential and this programme will enable the implementation of appropriate service responses both to offline and online abuse of young people and assist them in their recovery.”

Diana Nammi, Director of IKWRO said: “ IKWRO is extremely pleased that the Department for Education has funded this important programme as it gives us an opportunity to work closely with young people's advocates to share our experiences and knowledge. Our aim is to support them to better protect and safeguard young people who may be at risk of harmful practices”.

Thomas Lawson, Chief Executive at Leap Confronting Conflict said: “We're delighted to be working with CAADA and sharing our gangs expertise to support the important work of this programme.”

¹ In March this year, the government changed the definition of domestic abuse to include teenage victims aged 16 and above.

²88% of young people are in some form of an intimate partner relationship. 25% of girls experience physical partner violence; 11% severe; 33% of girls experience sexual partner violence; 75% of girls and 50% of boys reported some form of emotional partner abuse (NSPCC, 2009).

³Saville, Rochdale & Office of the Children's Commissioner's Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups : 16,500 young people at high risk of sexual exploitation; 70% of perpetrators were in gangs.

⁴CAADA (2012), A place of greater safety. Bristol : CAADA

Notes to editors:

For more information please contact Samantha Brown, Head of Communications at CAADA on 07935 268417 or email samantha.brown@caada.org.uk

About CAADA:

Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) is a national charity supporting a strong multi-agency response to domestic abuse. Our work focuses on saving lives and saving public money. CAADA provides practical help to support professionals and organisations working with domestic abuse victims. The aim is to protect the highest risk victims and their children – those at risk of murder or serious harm.

To date, CAADA has provided implementation support to over 250 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs). A MARAC is a regular partnership meeting where information on the highest risk domestic abuse cases is shared between local agencies and a safety plan to support each victim is developed. Since 2007, CAADA has also trained over 1500 Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs).

About Barnardo's:

Barnardo's works with more than 200,000 children and their families each year across over 800 services, on issues ranging from drug misuse to disability; youth crime to mental health; sexual abuse to domestic violence; gang violence to forced marriage, child poverty to homelessness.

We believe in the potential of every child and young person, no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. We will support them, stand up for them and bring out the best in each and every child. Every year we help thousands of children turn their lives around. http://www.barnardos.org.uk

About the Marie Collins Foundation:

The Marie Collins Foundation aims to ensure that the response to children and their families who have suffered harm via the internet and mobile technology is based on sound evidence based practice and enables them to recover and live safe and fulfilling lives.
http://www.mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk/

About IKWRO:

The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) is a national charity which provides advice and support to women and girls from the UK 's Middle Eastern communities who are affected by honour-based violence, child & forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM) and other forms of abuse. http://www.ikwro.org.uk

About Leap Confronting Conflict:

Leap Confronting Conflict believes that conflict is inevitable. We train young people, between 11 and 25 to understand and manage this conflict, to stop it becoming something self-destructive or violent and to turn it into an opportunity for personal development. We train the professionals who work with young people to ensure that our methods are embedded within our communities. We also pioneer action research to develop high impact models for understanding and responding to conflict. hwww.leapconfrontingconflict.org.uk/