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Welcome to the latest edition of Linked, Durham Safeguarding Children Partnership e-bulletin. We’ve brought together information from a number of partners and we hope you find the articles useful and informative. There will be a new bulletin every month, so if you have ideas around content or potential items for inclusion moving forward, get in touch with Stephen Winship in the Business Unit - stephen.winship@durham.gov.uk
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The DSCP Pledge & Standards for Reflective Discussion I16 Days of Action Against Domestic Abuse I @DurhamSCP on Twitter I and much more...
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The DSCP Pledge
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Standards for Reflective Discussion
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When the DSCP came into being in April 2019, as partners we agreed to the Pledge with an aspiration that we entered into open, frank, sometimes difficult professional conversations for the benefit of children.
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We have recently revisited this and tried to make it more meaningful and relevant. In the work that we do we should have honest, open, bold conversations so we all do the best we can for children and families.
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Such conversations should always be about, respect for one another, listening to others views, a shared understanding, always being curious and evidence what we say.
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One of our current key Practice Improvement themes is around Management Understanding and Decision Making. It had been raised through SCR's and other scrutiny that management grip and oversight needed to be better, with more intrusive purposeful supervision of cases.
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The Standards for Reflective Discussion have been developed to provide a quality standard and benchmark, so that all partner agencies can aspire to them and weave them into their own supervisory practices.
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Both the Pledge and the Standards have been supported by the Chief Officer Group and the 3 DSCP statutory partners.
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It is now essential that these are understood, their worth recognised, and that they are embedded into our cultures with support throughout organisations. Please look out for information coming soon on planned awareness sessions both multi and single agency led. Click the buttons below to find out more ...
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16 Days of Action Against Domestic Abuse -
25 November - 10 December 2021
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16 Days of Action Against Domestic Abuse is aimed at businesses to support them to take action against domestic abuse and violence. All employers have a legal obligation to assess risk and support the health and safety and wellness of their employees. 16 Days of Action promote and encourage companies to do more to support employees who endure domestic violence, to train those who witness it, and to protect staff as a whole, with the goal of securing safety and mitigating financial loss. Spanning across 16 days, starting on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and White Ribbon Day, until 10 December, Human Rights Day. The overarching theme of this year’s campaign is ‘End Violence Against Women Now’.
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In County Durham, as part of our 16 days of Action Against Domestic Abuse Campaign we have worked alongside multi-agency partners to organise a number of short training sessions for staff within DCC and wider, each one focusing on a different associated theme around Domestic Abuse, including some exciting guest speakers.
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We will also be circulating information daily through a variety of mechanisms, including social media and internal comms. Themes chosen for our Durham 16 Days Campaign this year, include Safeguarding Adults and Elder Abuse, Men as Victims, LGBTQ+ and Domestic Abuse, Stalking, the importance of support within the workplace and much more.
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On White Ribbon Day, 25 November, we will be hosting an event in Durham City where we will be chatting to the public about the Campaign and supporting the White Ribbon Pledge to ‘Never commit, excuse or remain silent about male violence against women’. We will also be encouraging staff to sign the pledge, please watch out for further information on the Intranet.
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For more information on 16 Days of Action or White Ribbon Day, please contact Nichola Pitt, Domestic Abuse Systems Coordinator Nichola.pitt@durham.gov.uk or Laura Duncan, Senior Workforce Development Officer – laura.duncan@durham.gov.uk. Follow the link below to see what's on offer.
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Tweet, tweet!! - @DurhamSCP - #GetTheNews
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Realising staff across the DSCP are always on the go and often have limited free time, we decided that in an effort to communicate with you even more effectively we have launched on Twitter - @DurhamDSCP. Click on the link or the main logo to see what's going on.
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Here you will find topical news focused on the Safeguarding Children agenda, not just from us, but from across the country and from a number of key agencies. There will also be ready access into what we offer in terms of multi-agency training, so check us out and start following the feed.
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Safe and Wellbeing Visits -
Help to Protect our Children
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County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) offer free ‘Safe and Wellbeing Visits’ to all households in County Durham and Darlington.
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• During the visit, the crew will check you have working smoke alarms in your property and if not, provide and fit alarms free of charge
• You will receive home fire safety advice specific to your circumstances
• They will talk through an escape plan with you and advise what to do in the event of a fire
• There are opportunities to talk about wellbeing and if applicable and you provide your consent, the fire crews can refer you to partner agencies for additional help, guidance or support.
• Each visit will take around 30 minutes.
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For more information and general fire safety advice, please check out their website www.ddfire.gov.uk
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Tackling Violence Against Women & Girls
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The Home Office has published the Tackling violence against women and girls’ strategy to ensure women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online and on the streets.
The strategy sets out the government’s plan to increase support for victims and survivors, increase the number of perpetrators brought to justice and to reduce the prevalence of violence against women and girls.
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Immediate steps to improve safety for women and girls include: a new national policing lead on violence against women and girls; a £5Million ‘Safety of Women at Night’ Fund focussing on the prevention of violence against women and girls in public spaces at night; and appointing two Violence Against Women and Girls Transport Champions, to tackle the problems faced by female passengers on public transport;
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Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has published an interim report looking at how effectively the police respond to violence against women and girls’ offences, including domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking, and female genital mutilation (FGM). Recommendations include: that the government, police, criminal justice system and public sector should commit to prioritising the response to violence against women and girls, supported by sufficient funding and mandated responsibilities. The report is available here;
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Keeping Children Safe in Education
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The Department for Education (DfE) has published updated Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021 statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England. This guidance came into force on 1 September 2021 and replaces Keeping Children Safe in Education 2020 (updated January 2021). Substantive changes, outlined in Annexe G, cover areas including: child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment; safeguarding information for all staff; the management of safeguarding; safer recruitment; and allegations made against or concerns raised in relation to teachers.
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NSPCC Learning has also published a CASPAR briefing summarising key points in the updated guidance.
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Sinking Feeling Animation- Don't let them suffer in silence!
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PAPYRUS has launched Sinking Feeling – their new animation created in collaboration with the BAFTA Award-winning animation studio, Blue Zoo.
Sinking Feeling tackles the heart-breaking reality that many children and young people are suffering in silence without the vital help and support they need.
The animation is designed to encourage more people to spot the signs and help guide young people away from thoughts of suicide.
The animation signposts to PAPYRUS and its HOPELINEUK service which offers confidential help and support to young people and anyone who is concerned for a young person who may be thinking of taking their own life.
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Contextualised Safeguarding Awareness Sessions
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These sessions will give an overview of contextualised safeguarding (extra-familial harm), what it means for our children and young people and how Signs of Safety can be applied to this area of our work. There are a number of dates available in 2022.
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Each is a 2 hour virtual session delivered by Kirstie Sutherland, Service Development Manager, Countywide Specialist Services and Kerry Yendall, Signs of Safety Co-ordinator and is for all practitioners who work with children and young people who may be at risk of harm beyond their families such as within their communities, schools and online.
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The DSCP Training Offer is now focused on the coordination and commissioning of our multi-agency training as opposed to delivery. A new Coordinator Amy Armstrong is now in place. There are some really exciting events around Child Sexual Abuse/Harm and Child Exploitation. Keep an eye out for upcoming circulations, and other sessions being introduced, but in the meantime here's what's available.
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When booking our training events you will see that the DSCP are no longer using Survey Monkey, but now use Microsoft Forms. This should be really straightforward for you with good functionality and links to the new website when we go live early next year, making the whole process more streamlined than before.
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