Domestic violence and abuse in local child safeguarding policy

As part of the wider research programme exploring practice and experience of health and social care assessments, this article explores local authority policies on domestic abuse.

Read the article here: Domestic violence and abuse in local child safeguarding policy: How is the problem represented?

It found that:

• The policies consider domestic violence in terms of individuals but rarely consider the impact of wider social context
• They focus on ‘incidents’ of domestic violence and abuse; a term which may not match the lived experience of children.
• Many contain little tailoring to reflect the needs and risks facing local children

The implications of the results suggest a need to refocus on children and their context within local DVA policy. 

This academic article was developed with one of NCB's Living Assessments Experts by Experience, Tammy Mayes, who was supported by NCB to inform research carried out as part of this project.

The Living Assessments programme looks at the decision-making process for providing social care support to children and families, the impact of offering particular support or not offering that support, and the lived experiences of assessments. 

Lived experience is at the heart of the work and NCB collaborate with care leavers, disabled young people and parents as part of Living Assessments to ensure research findings reflect experience and result in real change.

Find more about NCB's research work here.