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Praise for Hampshire’s multi-agency approach to safeguarding children from domestic abuse (6 February 2017)

Date: 06/02/2017
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Praise for Hampshire’s multi-agency approach to safeguarding children from domestic abuse

Inspectors have praised the efforts of Hampshire County Council and its partners in Hampshire for the “robust” way they are keeping children across the county protected from abuse and neglect at home.

A joint inspection of Hampshire County Council’s Children’s Services, as well as Hampshire Constabulary, Health, and Probation Services, by Ofsted, HMI Constabulary, the Care Quality Commission and HMI Probation took place in December 2016, with a specific focus on the multi-agency response to children living with domestic abuse.

Inspectors found that the overall standard of practice by Hampshire’s agencies in their response to domestic abuse was “strong” – and that strategic arrangements for responding to domestic abuse were “robust and highly effective”, with all partners “dedicated to improve outcomes for all vulnerable children, including those experiencing domestic abuse”.

“It is evident that leaders in all organisations are committed to the partnership and appropriately prioritise the protection of these children,” the report continued.

The Hampshire Safeguarding Children Board was also praised as being “dynamic and forward thinking”. Inspectors highlighted that frontline social workers were knowledgeable about individual children and ensured that their needs were met at an appropriate level. Equally strong was the way in which managers oversaw and analysed the work of social workers – with inspectors stating they had seen how this was improving outcomes for children.

Among “impressive” services that prevented risk was the award winning police project – Operation CARA – which evidence shows reduces re-offending in domestic abuse cases.

The inspectors’ view was that police officers prioritised “the protection of children living in homes where domestic abuse occurs” – and routinely and appropriately identified and responded to domestic abuse incidents, with “appropriate referrals into social care for consideration”.

Chief Constable Hampshire Constabulary, Olivia Pinkney, said:

“This report underlines the crucial importance of partnership – as agencies, we are committed to improving our own services, but in assessing how good we are at keeping vulnerable people safe, we must lift our heads and look at the full picture.

“For policing, this means not just arrest rates, but good information sharing and innovative approaches, such as CARA, that are actually proven to break the cycle of offending.

“I’m delighted that the joint inspection team looked at that full picture – their conclusions underline that the people of Hampshire can take confidence in strong overall standards of practice. I hope that this will give any person or family suffering from the misery of domestic abuse the confidence to come forward and talk about it.”

The inspection report also praised a clear commitment to partnership working by the county council and the open style of leadership and innovation “creatively driven by the Director of Children’s Services”.


Hampshire County Council’s Executive Lead Member for Children’s Services, Councillor Keith Mans, added:

“I am very pleased with the findings of the Joint Targeted Area Inspection –
and this affirms my view of how high the bar is set by this Authority and our partners to help keep children safe.”


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