DASH - The Model Needs to Evolve
10th Aug 2015
When the new Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment and Honour Based Violence (DASH) model was introduced in 2009, for the first time it enabled police services and partner agencies to use a common checklist to identify and assess risk with victims of domestic abuse. Since then model has become solidly...
In the UK and internationally the face of public services has changed dramatically in the past three decades. This is as a result of political beliefs and fast moving government policies that impact on provision in the wake of the financial crisis. This has influenced how we as professionals will...
Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation
10th Aug 2015
Government has published a new action plan for tackling child sexual exploitation, including an extension of the wilful neglect offence to children’s social care, education and elected members where people have been found to have failed in their duty to take action in respect of cases of abuse and neglect....
The social work profession has come under a lot of pressure recently as social workers find themselves caught up in damaging public debates about their role in keeping children and families safe. Accusations of failure and incompetence appear in the press regardless of the myriad reasons behind these so-called practice...
Children Affected by Domestic Abuse
13th Jul 2015
All families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina This quote from Tolstoy is a timely – and timeless – reminder of how much grief and unhappiness exists behind the closed doors of the family home. Across the UK there are countless...
How to Combat the Online Radicalisation of Young People
13th Jul 2015
When three teenage girls flew to Syria to join Islamic State earlier this year, there was a lot of soul searching across the UK. Newspapers claimed Britain was losing the battle to stop extremists radicalising young people online through chat rooms and social media networks. Former government minister Lady Warsi...
Joining the Dots: Sexual Violence, Gangs and Sexting
13th Jul 2015
When I read a BBC article about Violence against Women recently I was alarmed about the increase in prosecutions in 2014/2015. It said that A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) report in June 2015 showed more than 107,000 prosecutions in the year to April. An increase of 16,000 (18%) on the previous year....
It is Time that we Stand up for Social Workers
13th Jul 2015
It is critical that the next government defines what we should expect of social workers working with our most vulnerable children, young people and families. The five main political parties in England and Wales revealed their manifestos in April outlining plans for the country if elected on 7 May 2015....
Can localism work during a time of huge public sector funding cuts? It’s a question that goes to the heart of front line service delivery. A few months ago Olly Martins, Bedfordshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner, devised what he thought was a practical way to fund 100 more police officers...