Team: Adolescent and Youth Justice Service (AYJS)

Partners: East Area Exploitation Police, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), Barnardo’s Independent Child Trafficking Guardian Service (ICTG), Home Office Single Competent Authority (SCA)

Main Submission:

In 2021, LBBD became one of 10 Pilot Sites nationally for a Home Office (HO) funded project, aimed at reducing the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) decision making timescales through holding local multi- agency decision-making panel meetings.

Prior to the Pilot, children being referred to the NRM through the Single Competent Authority (SCA) were waiting more than 500 days, for their Conclusive Grounds decisions to be confirmed. This delay led to some children drifting in the criminal justice system, with trials and sentencing being postponed while outcomes for NRM referrals were awaited by the Court. Potentially in some instances children received criminal sentences unnecessarily because of this.

A child who is the victim of modern slavery and trafficking is the victim of a crime. Prior to LBBD becoming a Pilot site, we struggled to track and monitor this cohort of children as referrals were made by a range of first responders and the Local Authority were not always aware of this or outcomes from referrals made. Therefore, we could not be assured that safeguarding processes were being followed as they should.

Our ambition was to better identify and understand our cohort of children being victimised in this way, to track them, ensuring timely safeguarding responses and robust planning to reduce risk and to speed up the decision-making process to prevent children entering and drifting in the criminal justice system. We wanted to use comparative data from this cohort of children to inform our multi-agency responses to child victims and to identify and respond to issues of disproportionality.

LBBD made the decision early in the application process to utilise the HO funding to employ a full-time NRM coordinator to fully focus on this area of practice. We recognised the need for a dynamic and committed multi-agency panel that could fully engage in understanding the risks for children and the NRM process.

Prior to launch, pathways and processes, including the design of evidence gathering templates, for the panel were agreed. All partners making up the Panel were trained on decision making threshold by the SCA to ensure consistency in decision making.

The NRM Coordinator arranges and chairs Panels, researches children being referred, reports back on the process, and recommendations to the HO and delivers training to the workforce to raise awareness and understanding of modern slavery and the NRM Panel.

Buy in from multi-agency partners, including commitment to attend and support panels was secured through our Vulnerable Adolescent Strategic Group with sign up at the highest level.

We have embedded a process whereby all children with Positive Conclusive Grounds Decisions are tracked and monitored through our monthly multi-agency Criminal Exploitation Group (CEG) or Missing and Sexual Exploitation Group (MASE).

Through this single oversight we have an improved understanding of the children’s needs, we can use data to monitor issues such as disproportionality, to identify offenders, locations and trends. This information informs our strategic and tactical response to issues identified e.g. evidence-based commissioning.

Since the launch of our pilot 155 NRM referrals have been discussed at panel meetings. Of these 120 (78%) received Positive Conclusive Grounds decisions, confirming children as victims of modern slavery and trafficking.

Making our own recommendations at panel has reduced the timescale from an average of 500 days to just 45 days to reach a Conclusive grounds decision.

This reduction in timescales means our Youth Justice colleagues can include this decision making, in their court reports. This impacts sentencing for children relating to criminal justice matters, often leading to more lenient sentences or offences being withdrawn in recognition of the exploitation that children have experienced.

Social care referrals for children with Positive Conclusive Grounds decisions cannot be closed without the consent of CEG or MASE, who must be reassured that that the multi-agency support offered to them has been sufficient and that victims of modern slavery and trafficking are safer. This strengthened partnership oversight and intervention has brought about improved outcomes for children.

We have used our experience of SCA ratification to successfully challenge their threshold for decisions. For example, the differentiation between collected evidence for CSE and CCE, which may have led to further delay for children for a Conclusive Grounds decision.

As part of the MASE and CEG closure process for children with Conclusive Grounds NRM decisions we gather feedback from them, their parents/carers and their workers about what has worked and how they are safer now, some of which is set out below.

Feedback from children:
“It has helped to have people on my case. My Youth Justice worker and employment support has been helpful. It was good because people were trying to help me”

“Attending a course to get my CSCS Card has been good. I feel free to live my life and work toward my goals”

“What worked for me was the support I got from Safer London and the modern slavery officer – feeling I was being heard. The Princes Trust gave me the confidence to go to college”.

Feedback from a parent:
“My communication with Y has improved. I am less worried about truancy and exploitation and feel more able to protect my daughter through the skills and knowledge I have gained, I am more able to spot the signs”.

Feedback from staff:
“What seems to have helped E is the formal recognition of him as a victim of modern slavery. This meant he had a consistent support network who could reach out quickly when he was feeling low or avoiding contact. When there have been blocks or challenges, his network have tried to look for other options which I think has helped him not to give up on his plan”

Feedback from partners:
“It’s always a pleasure to attend the LBBD Panel. It’s well organised with well-presented information and committed panel membership. It is a forum for open discussion and challenge with a focus on the children”

Key Learning:

• Have one person explicitly focused on and responsible for this area of work.
• Be clear about pathways and processes prior to launch.
• Be explicit with partners about the expectations of them in this process
• Have more than one representative from each agency necessary for quoracy, so that annual leave and other absences are covered

Team: Bryony Smith and Gaby Couchman, London Borough of Camden and London Borough of Islington.

Partners: Youth Justice Service, Children in need services, Corporate Parenting Service, Police (Met/BCU and
central modern slavery team, central specialist crime), Health, Education and community safety

Main Submission:

We are submitting our child modern slavery project for its innovative and ground-breaking response to child safeguarding, decision-making and improving outcomes for child exploitation victims. This project came to light following a Home Office devolved decision making pilot for the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). The pilot permitted 10 Local authority sites across England, Scotland and Wales to hold local multi agency decision making panels to determine whether a child is a victim of modern slavery or not. This was a power previously held by the Single Competent Authority and Home Office which has resulted in delays of 1-3 years for outcomes for child victims, delaying safeguarding responses, court proceedings and immigration decisions.

This project and work undertaken to identify and safeguard child exploitation victims comes within an ever increasingly dangerous environment for vulnerable children, such as those in care who through poverty, implications of the pandemic and/or grooming have become susceptible and victim to child exploitation, be it through forced criminality, forced labour, sexual exploitation or domestic servitude. This exploitation discriminates against no child however, Looked After and Care Experienced Children are significantly more vulnerable to becoming victims.

The London Boroughs of Camden and Islington have distinct and wide ranging challenges regarding child Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. Namely, we have a high level of serious youth violence and high concentrations of gangs and organised crime groups, with new emerging factions developing regularly. In addition to organised crime groups and suspected human trafficking rings encompassing the movement of child victims across borders into the UK for the purpose of exploitation. Therefore, the implementation of this pilot and commitment to identifying and improving outcomes for child exploitation victims is at the forefront of our work in this area. Despite our robust child safeguarding processes in both boroughs, before this pilot our authorities recognised, in line with national statistics and research, that there was likely an underreporting of child victims into the NRM. As well as recognition that more could be done with multi agency partners to support victims, disrupt networks and identify potential child victims earlier. Not only have our authorities fully committed to the pilot, but we have also gone above and beyond to strengthen the relationships between boroughs, our shared police and health service responses, but also to develop robust, trauma informed and child-centred training and resources which in turn has been adopted by the Single Competent Authority who deliver NRM decision making nationally.

To date our project and cross-borough working has delivered the following:

• Held monthly local multi-agency decision-making panels providing outcomes for suspected child victims. In the past the 3 years of the polit 148 children were identified within this format across Camden and Islington as victims of modern slavery.
• Created a frontline practitioner good practice guide to identify child victims and referring them into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), used by the Home Office.
• Created and delivered NRM writing training for frontline services, adopted by the Home Office in their training and guidance.
• Created information reporting templates for NRM decision makers, subsequently used by the Home Office.
• Developed a new intelligence sharing agreement and process with the police to better inform child exploitation decision making and modern slavery investigations.
• Identified key intelligence and trends emerging from the NRM decision-with identified themes and concerns then fed back into each Local Authority Multi Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) panels for safeguarding responses.
• Frontline practitioners are now aware of the use of NRMs for the purpose of s.45 defence where a child has been criminally exploited, and also the importance of NRM referrals for children who have been trafficked across borders and exploited in respect to their immigration status. Thus, improving outcomes for some of the most vulnerable children in our service who are not then criminalised and/or further prejudiced for their actions.

Additional impact of the project to date:

• Upskilled frontline services who are now trained in early detection and referral of child victims and ensuring high quality referrals that then impact on quality and timeliness of decision-making.
• All NRM decisions made by the panel are heard within the 45-day timeframe as set by the Home Office, but to which they themselves have been unable to deliver. This has then resulted in better outcomes for children, not only limiting court delays in matters relating criminal offences where exploitation is used as a defence, but also speeding up immigration cases where a child has been trafficked to the UK and thus requires urgent protection.
• Newly engaged and committed police response to identifying and supporting child exploitation victims. Increasing understanding of their vulnerabilities to exploitation and serious youth violence and thus improving multi-agency responses and approaches to disrupting exploitation networks.
• Close partnership work between the London Borough of Camden and Islington which has resulted in shared resources, training, knowledge and intel sharing. Including identifying new forms of exploitation and increasing early referrals and intervention.
• Close partnership work with specialist NGOs including Every Child Protected Against Trafficking, Barnardos and Rescue and Response to continue to better identify and understand new forms or child exploitation and disruptive measures and support required. This partnership work has also fed into wider policy debates and first-responder NRM changes.
• Better understanding, responses and NRM outcomes for Child Sexual Exploitation victims generally overlooked within the NRM framework.

Overall, since the pilot started there continues to be an increase in referrals allocated to the pilot. There continues to be good safeguarding responses and increased partnership working between Children’s Social Care and Youth Justice Service to support the young person with their experiences. There is also increased awareness of the indicators of exploitation within the workforce, which has meant that exploitation concerns are identified earlier, and the children are being referred into the NRM at the earliest opportunity. To date, our pilot site across the two authority areas is busiest pilot site nationally in respect to the number of referrals and decisions made.

Team: Stop and Search Safeguarding Project

Partners: Metropolitan Police Service North Area BCU, London Innovation and Improvement Alliance (LIIA)

Main Submission:

Stop and Search through a Safeguarding Lens

Collaboration is the bedrock of effective child safeguarding. The London Borough of Haringey Children’s Services and the Metropolitan Police Service in North Area BCU have, since 2020, been working on a phased project to improve the safeguarding response to children who are stopped and searched. The project aims to consider the information obtained by the police in using their power of stop and search and, where there are wider safeguarding concerns, how these young people can benefit from timely support and interventions.

The learning from this project has been invaluable and has informed changes to systems and processes in Haringey including adjusting the screening within the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub and requesting individualised child stop and search data to enhance risk prevention plans via Multi Agency Child Exploitation meetings.

Together with London Innovation and Improvement Alliance (LIIA) we are delivering this pan London project phase and have 29 Local Authorities and 12 BCUs participating. Galvanising the safeguarding body of professionals, we are working to strengthen the mechanism by which children at risk are identified through stop and search, how information is shared, and to ensure children are provided with better safeguarding support interventions. Our project builds on a child centred approach, serves to create safer communities and reduce trauma to children where this could occur. It aligns with the commitments made in a New Met for London and delivers on the priority set by the Association of London Directors of Children’s Services to build safety for young Londoners

Team: Hillingdon Your Choice Team – Specialist Adolescents

Main Submission:

Within the Adolescent Team, we have numerous examples of positive practice that has built safety for our young London Borough residents. Practices have included young people writing and devising their own intervention plans, utilising a devolved budget to reduce hardship and promote pro-social activity, young people having the opportunity to choose their social worker, and we have been striving to improve the quality of direct work through implementing a more
CBT informed approach to bridge the deficit in services offered/accessed by young people. We also actively engaged in muti-agency risk management practices such as local mapping and the High-Risk Panel. These nuances and innovation in practice, collectively appear to be making a
significant difference in the lives and safety of our young people. A case example of how integrating these creative approaches to practice can be observed in the intervention offered to young person JJ, by social work practitioner Sabah Mahmood.

JJ was able to choose his social worker via a profile, and he chose Sabah as he found her to be relatable and they have some things in common. A sense of choice automatically makes a young person more inclined to engage, if they believe that the person engaging them is relatable and the young person is involved, is heard, and has choice in the care that they receive. The child’s voice is integral to all practice and even more so when working to adolescents. Sabah was able
to utilise the devolved budget for school uniform, school equipment, gym membership, and to undertake quality direct work whilst doing activity. Young people speak more openly and honestly when they can trust who they are speaking with, and they are engaged in a more natural environment. In addition to this, Sabah supported JJ to process his life situation, have a better understanding of who he wants to be, and how he wants to get there. This enabled JJ to
write his own intervention plan which was regularly reviewed and supported by Sabah and his network.

We recognised that young people are often not prioritised for the support of mental health services, or struggle to access them due not seeing value, not being able to prioritise them, or not being ready to face their life circumstance. In addition, teenagers can often struggle to be consistent by virtue of their stage of development, which renders some services inpatient and withdrawing support. Sabah was upskilled as a professional to be enabled to offer CBT informed
interventions via Your Choice and internal training, this resulted in JJ receiving some well-informed sessions to set goals for himself, get a better understanding of his history, his sense of identity, and how to work towards behavioural activation in a more positive sense.

This combined approach resulted in JJ being a young person who was subject of an 12-month conditional discharge order, who was involved in street violence, struggling with education, and at risk of exploitation to a young person who is now working full-time, has not been in trouble
with the police, is an active member of a youth council, and he has won a national award for turning his life around. The sense of accomplishment is evident, and the team’s way of practicing alongside Sabah’s social work skills, and JJ’s determination has created an environment for positive change

Supporting Information:

Email feedback from a parent following support from an upskilled Your Choice Coach, “Dear Sabah, collectively as a family we cannot thank you enough for all the personal support and time you have given our family and (Young Person) personally. You have advocated on her behalf and bought together so much expertise that we will be eternally grateful you got us through this difficult period. My one regret is not reaching out sooner., We wish you every possible success in your career and future. You are in our eyes an asset to Social Services”. 

Email Feedback from another parent, “Dear Kuda, thank you so much for taking the time to check in with me to see how things are. I do acknowledge what you said and appreciate you saying it but just wanted to reiterate that the support your team provided in the initial days and Mario has provided enabled this. Helping my son to define his desired outcomes and getting him involved in making decisions about his life has been a welcomed approach. I remember you saying to me when we first met that every conversation with my son is an intervention and my feedback to you is the quality of intervention is making a difference.  Thank you for continuing to make yourself available in the manner you do”.  

Text of appreciation from a young person, “Hello matt, I just wanted to say you are an amazing social worker. You really helped me when I was at my lowest point. I appreciate all the times you went out of your way to encourage me like when we were doing the weights. I’ve been doing really good recently and I’m much healthier and happier than before. Thank you 

Feedback from a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) School Nurse, “Hi Kelly, I just want to take this opportunity to acknowledge what a difference you have made to Child A and Child B (names redacted)’s lives. You have consistently supported them and given them hope for the future and prevented them from following a different path.  We need more Kelly’s!!” 

Email feedback from a parent, “Hi Kuda, I just wanted to acknowledge and thank you and especially Sian for everything you both did to support myself and (daughter) whilst we were in Hillingdon. I feel quite blessed that you decided to send us Sian for my daughter.  What a credit to your team, Sian was the perfect person, she was lovely with my daughter, so warm and friendly whilst remaining professional”.  

Feedback from a parent, “I would like to thank you both of you for the competence, skill, knowledge and affection you showed towards the girls, which made them only accept to deal with you. I am very grateful to you two for all your support and help!” 

Feedback from the Guardian, Cafcass, “I would like to take this opportunity to commend the work of the social worker on the case.  Mario has been consistently involved throughout the proceedings. He has an excellent relationship with Child C and a detailed and compassionate understanding of his needs. He has kept the large and complex professional network very well informed and working together well and this has given Child C a strong sense that all the adults in his life are working together in his best interests”.  

Team: Detached Youth Detached Youth Work Team and London Borough of Merton Community Placed Based Universal Youth Service.

Partners: Mitcham Salvation Army, London Borough of Merton: Family Hub Team; Youth Offending Service; Early Help Team; Public Health Team; UTURN Contextual Safeguarding Team; Phipps Bridge Youth Centre Partnership for Young Merton, St Giles Trust and Met Police Youth & School Engagement and Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

Main Submission:

As Merton’s Detached Youth Work Team, we work as part of a whole systems approach to situational awareness and contextual safeguarding with vulnerable children and young people (CYP) from a multi-dimensional approach underpinned by youth mentoring. We contribute to several meetings including: Safer Merton partnership; Mapping Intelligence; MACE; Pollards Hill Community & Working Groups; East Merton Primary Care Network; Partnership for Young Merton; HAF Steering Group; Family Hub Locality and Youth Service Team meetings. Over the years, Mitcham Town Centre has had significant crime and anti-social behaviour issues many of which are related to adults, but it is also a place where lots of CYP either congregate or travel through. Because of this we recognise the inequalities in East Merton and have engaged directly with CYP to help bring about long-term positive changes that reduce the likelihood of them being involved in criminal activity either as victims or perpetrators. This network and knowledge has enabled us to track groups and map any issues arising and thus understand the local environment, their families and CYP’s friends as highly influential system in their life’s.

The need for this project has been identified through several channels, including our own Detached Youth Work and reconnaissance in East Merton as well as research conducted by the local authority and other social partners. In addition to this we looked at the findings of ‘The impact of Covid-19 on CYP who live in Merton’ report and ‘Merton CYP’s Plan 2024/28’. Both documents flagged that CYP don’t think they have enough said in the decision making and planning of their own services. We therefore adopted a participatory approach to ensure equal power with CYP; us as practitioners; and other social partners as well. We pioneered this by developing relationships with four young people in the area who formed a small steering group to help us shape this youth offer. They undertook the role of peer consultants and worked with the Mitcham Town Centre and Detached Youth Work Managers to identify the gaps in youth provision in the area. We also worked with the Safer Merton Analyst and the Serious Youth Violence Lead to conduct further community and stakeholder engagement. What we identified instead of constantly ‘hot spotting’ and ‘firefighting’ issues, we had to have a placed based offer to nurture equitable relationships between vulnerable CYP and us, the trusted adults. By recognising this duality and bringing together all this intel at an Acacia Family Hub Locality Meeting in May this year, our Detached Youth Work Team launched a ground breaking initiative in partnership with the Salvation Army and created the Mobile Youth Hub.

Our biggest challenge initially was that there was no youth provision in Mitcham Town Centre. We had no funding allocated for the project so we had to approach various agencies in the area to see if we could get free access to a space. After getting local buy in, our next challenge was where to park the double decker bus safely and securely for four hours. Other challenges included limited resources to support parents who came onto the bus during the youth
sessions. To counteract this, we approached Early Help FISH to work with the Salvation Army earlier in the day so that they could deal with some of the parental themes that came up.

Our Mobile Youth Hub offers a welcoming atmosphere and has comfortable seating; games consoles; food and a friendly team of youth work practitioners. Our activities are diverse and include drop-in sessions; workshops; activities; 121 Mentoring; and signposting. We know this engagement only works through a complex interplay of individual and system relationships from several stakeholders, therefore the other agencies that have joined us on the bus have included: the Met Police; London Fire Brigade; Catch 22; and LBM’s Health & Wellbeing Network, Enforcement and Towards Employment Teams. We’ve also worked with LBM’s Violence Against Women and Girls Team as part of the White Ribbon campaign and Allyship programme.

We know that street-based youth work interventions work, because it allows CYP to develop trusted adult relationship in the communities where they live. In a recent LBM Joint Targeted
Area Inspection (Dec 2023) the inspectors said, “the Detached Youth Work teams’ work is excellent”.

All our interventions are inputted onto the IYSS database and currently we’re working with other colleagues in the local authority to develop a Merton Family Hub data driven programme.

The Detached Youth Work Team contributes to economic sustainability through creating a pipeline and progression routes for future workforces, i.e. as a significant local employer recruiting people we draw upon our track record of employing an ethnically diverse team of which 42% of paid staff are from the borough. Currently in our team we have three staff and two volunteers that are local residents, all of which contribute to creating street social and human capital.

Since July 2024 our mobile youth offer has engaged over 350 CYP, of which:
● 276 said that they feel safer when the Detached Youth Work Team and the mobile youth hub are present
● 25 have become young mentees on the Motivate Merton Mentoring Youth Programme
● 13 young men have attended a residential at Woodrow High House
● 10 young women have been referred to Empower Her Girls and Young Women Detached Youth Work project based at Phipps Bridge Youth Centre.

Below is some of the feedback received from participants and parents:

“Without this bus I would be causing trouble around Mitcham, but seeing the detached team here every week helps me to stay focused” Young person.

“The Detached Youth Bus has made a real difference in my son’s life. He used to hang around on the streets, getting into trouble. Now, he goes to the bus regularly, and he’s more confident and happier.” Parent of a young person.

“The Youth Bus is a valuable asset to our community. It’s a proactive approach to tackling youth issues, and it’s making a real difference.” Local police officer.

Supporting Information:

Team: Redbridge Educational Wellbeing Team – Claudia Noel-Michael, Marco Temes Serrano, Nuno Felix, Nesrin Fehmi, and Lakshmi Sharma

Main Submission:

The Redbridge Educational Wellbeing Team (REWT) have been actively involved in the Your Choice programme, an initiative designed to support young people affected by and vulnerable to youth violence. It’s developed by the London Improvement and Innovation Alliance and supported by London’s Violence Reduction Unit, and focuses on providing a person-centred approach to reduce youth offending.

REWT is committed to enhancing the mental health and emotional well-being of children and young people. As Educational Psychologists (EPs), Assistant Educational Psychologists (AEPs), and working with Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) in schools, REWT aims to provide early intervention and preventative support. REWT’s approach aligns with the key findings of the Green Paper (2007), emphasising the need to transform mental health support in schools and provide early and effective interventions. Through our participation in Your Choice, REWT has supported schools to foster a child-centred approach to understand and equip young people with coping strategies and make positive decisions through goal setting and behavioural activation.

The focus on utilising ELSAs combined with Your Choice knowledge, has contributed to REWT’s success. ELSAs work closely with young people, developing trusting relationships and provide support to navigate emotional experiences. Involving ELSAs in Your Choice, aligns closely with REWT’s core goal ‘Nurturing mental health and resilience in Redbridge school communities’. By offering a safe space for young people to talk and learn about mental health, REWT helps to reduce stigma and promote emotional resilience within school and wider communities.

REWT were involved in the pilot stage of Your Choice. REWTs AEPs delivered intensive support to young people in Redbridge secondary schools, utilising CBT techniques and goal setting tasks to give young people agency and control over their lives. The successful engagement of young people supported them to work towards their desired goals e.g., one young person gained the confidence to apply for college and was offered two conditional places. these success led to REWTs involvement in the current Efficacy phase of the programme, extending to two groups of schools, control and treatment.

While in most LA’s this work is led by social workers and youth services, in Redbridge it’s uniquely delivered in schools by EPs and trained ELSAs, emphasising early intervention within community spaces aligning with the I-Thrive Framework and the principles of the Green Paper to transform mental health support. The key aspect of REWT’s model is the collaborative work between AEPs, EPs, and ELSAs to deliver a high-intensity, CBT-informed intervention to support young people. Through training, supervision, and mentoring, REWT ensures that ELSAs have the key skills to deliver Your Choice effectively. AEPs provide support to ELSAs offering weekly mentoring and assisting with operational challenges. Monthly clinical supervision, led by an EP who is also the clinical lead for the programme, further strengthens the quality of support provided to ELSAs. Supervisions involve learning and reflective spaces for ELSAs around contextual safeguarding, youth offending and the programme delivery. All topics delivered are evidence based and appropriate to supporting young people affected by youth violence.

REWT also developed the role of project coordinator, an SAEP within the team, to oversee the programme’s implementation in schools including managing data collection, liaising with school leadership and ensuring that all aspects of the programme are running smoothly by facilitating communication between REWT and school staff to ensure that the programme remains effective and responsive to the needs of the young people involved.

Our model has faced several challenges during the programme. The primary challenges included operational and systemic issues within schools, such as difficulties in finding time for ELSAs to deliver sessions due to competing school commitments, as well as staff retention, which impacted the consistency of sessions, school policies related to safeguarding, exclusion, and the logistics of taking students out into the community. To address challenges, REWT has been flexible in providing adapted support to individual schools, having a collaborative approach to overcome barriers and maintain the delivery of the programme.

Despite the challenges faced, the Your Choice programme has had a positive impact on Redbridge school community. Feedback from school staff indicates improvements in student attendance, behaviour, engagement in lessons, and relationships with peers. Young people have reported feeling supported by their ELSAs, stating that they feel listened to and that the sessions have helped them better understand themselves. As a result, the programme has contributed to increased confidence, young people have learnt coping skills and have improved social relationships.

Delivering Your Choice in schools has also highlighted the importance of contextual safeguarding and the need for a preventative approach to supporting vulnerable young people. Through training, events and signposting, REWT has supported schools to reach out to community services to foster partnerships with local organisations to support young people. REWT has helped schools better support students impacted by youth violence. The success of the programme in Redbridge has highlighted the value of early intervention and personalised community-based support for this cohort of vulnerable young people.

Funding is essential in the positive outcomes of REWTs involvement in Your Choice. REWT allocated part of the funding to support schools in delivering the programme, including providing resources for ELSAs and compensating for the time and planning required to facilitate sessions. Funding also supported the roles of the clinical lead and project coordinator, ensuring that the programme maintained high levels of quality assurance and oversight. In addition, funding has and will enable REWT to organise celebration events for the young people and staff involved in the programme, providing an opportunity to recognise their efforts and achievements. Although the programme has been successful, there are still areas for improvement, particularly for ensuring the sustainability of the model across all schools.

REWT’s involvement shows that ELSAs, AEPs, and EPs, collaborative approach provides effective support to young people in the community. Despite challenges, REWTs adaptations and the positive impact on young people and school communities fosters emotional resilience and reducing youth violence. REWT’s innovative approach shows how educational psychology can contribute to supporting young people’s mental health, wellbeing and fostering positive outcomes
in school communities.

Team: Child Protection

Partners: Metropolitan Police, health, Youth Justice, and Youth services.

Main Submission:

The Youth Intelligence Hub was set up in October 2022 following an incident in which a young person was stabbed and seriously injured in a confrontation involving two rival groups of young people in Redbridge. In the subsequent professionals’ meeting, it became clear there was soft intelligence known to agencies and the voluntary sector which, if shared, could potentially have prevented the incident. At this meeting it was flagged that a regular meeting to share ‘live’/real time soft or hard intelligence pertaining to youth violence, criminal exploitation, gangs, knife crime, criminality or CSE, would enhance the partnership’s ability to keep young people safe in Redbridge.

As a result, the Redbridge Youth Intelligence Hub was formed, to safeguard and protect children and young people in Redbridge involved in or being groomed into violence, gangs, knife crime or any other form of criminality including sexual exploitation. Senior operational leads across the partnership committed through the Youth Intelligence hub to sharing real time intelligence/information about youth crime, violence and exploitation and to use this intelligence to:

• Respond proactively to new and emerging intelligence
• Agree and coordinate an immediate response across agencies
• Inform targeting/deployment of policing and community safety resources
• Agree actions that agencies could take to disrupt criminal activity and safeguard young people
• Identify young people at risk and agree any additional actions required to safeguard them

The Youth Intelligence Hub is a weekly face to face partnership meeting, chaired by Children’s Social Care. In addition to Children’s Services representative, the meeting includes colleagues from the police (Safer Schools officers, Safer Neighbourhoods officers and when required officers from the Gangs unit), Health (0-19 services; safeguarding leads from the local emergency department), the Exploited Children’s Team, Youth Offending Service, Youth Services, Education, Anti-Social Behaviour Team and Community Safety, amongst others.

The Youth Intelligence Hub is now well embedded in partnership working in Redbridge, with soft intelligence being shared weekly from many sources. At the meeting attendee’s share real time intelligence regarding emerging risks to young people. The meeting focuses on actions to disrupt perpetrators and criminal activity, to coordinate a multi-agency response. Attendees initially work through the intelligence to identify the root cause of the problem/issue being
discussed, this in turn leads to a clear plan with attendees taking away actions for their area to address the risks and concerns.

The meeting is the epitome of an open, collaborative and supportive environment across teams and partner agencies. The meeting is more than the sum of its part demonstrating what can be achieved when agencies come together to focus on an issue and commit resources to address it.

Within months, the Youth Intelligence Hub was making a big difference in disrupting and preventing exploitation, including a case of an organised criminal gang perpetrating CSE whereby girls were being taken to known and unknown addresses and sexually assaulted; concerns around men grooming young women at a local college; concerns about the use, purchase and selling of vapes amongst young people and the potential links to gangs/vape wars and anti-social/criminal behaviour in an area of the borough due to the lack of a police presence.

More recently successes included two specialist police operations. One of these focussed on an organised criminal gang working across several local authorities with an active investigation by a specialist police unit responding to the intelligence gathered through the information sharing at the Youth Intelligence Hub. The other resulted in the taking down of several county lines between London and Ipswich, again because of intelligence shared. The Metropolitan Police County Lines Investigation Team describe the Youth Intelligence Hub as a brilliant example of collaborative working and cited the sharing of Local Authority information as an enabler for them to quickly identify those involved in criminality and to take actions thereafter.

Each success has raised the profile of the meeting and as a result membership of the meeting has grown. Most importantly, public spaces in Redbridge have been made safe for children, young people and the wider community.

Supporting Information:

Youth Intelligence Hub Annual Presentation

Youth Intelligence Hub Annual Report 2023-24

Team: Specialist Exploitation Team (SET) – Sabina Samad, Head of Service, Siobhan McGeary, Service Manager, Family Help: Contextual
Safeguarding.

Partners: Frenford clubs, Box Up crime, Red Light Busking and Be Heard as One

Main Submission:

In Redbridge, we have recognised the unique needs of our children who are at risk of extra familial harm – the need for trusting relationships with professionals, to receive intensive specialist support and to be met where they are at and kept safe – and we have built a Specialist Exploitation Team (SET) to deliver this service and to keep young Londoners safe.

The SET is comprised of experienced specialist exploitation social workers who work directly with the child and their family. Through forensic analysis of referrals, SET ensures that only children who are experiencing exploitation are allocated to the team, ensuring caseloads are kept low – an average of six to eight children per worker. The combination of direct casework, manageable caseloads, specialist expertise and community partnerships, enables SET social workers to develop deep, meaningful, professional relationships with children and families, frequently spending time with them and focusing on establishing relationships and understanding their unique needs.

DeShawn* (not his real name) is one of hundreds of children who have changed their trajectory through working with SET and a voice that we would like to showcase and celebrate in this application. Subject to a child protection plan and transferred to Redbridge by another local authority, there were significant extra-familial harm concerns for DeShawn – he was just 15 years old, frequently missing and being heavily exploited through the drug supply trade. At the point of transfer, DeShawn and his parents were described as ‘hard to reach’ and ‘non-engaging.’ DeShawn was on the ‘edge of care.’ DeShawn was allocated to C, an experienced social worker within the SET. C was relentless in her approach to building a relationship with DeShawn, meeting him in places of his choosing
like community spaces, home and his alternative school provision. In the early weeks when DeShawn was arrested, C was the first to visit him in custody and attended each court hearing with him, gaining his trust by always showing up and being consistent. Amidst the crises, C made sure she was not just learning about the risks to DeShawn, but who he is as a person – what makes him happy, what he fears and what his hopes and dreams are.

As his trust with C grew, DeShawn developed the confidence to access the specialist interventions that SET have to offer. DeShawn accessed and continues to access the SET’s weekly Engagement Groups. These groups are designed to be as accessible as possible for children experiencing extra-familial harm – they take place after hours, are run by SET social workers and offer a safe community for vulnerable young people to build trusted relationships with safeguarding professionals. The Engagement Groups also bring different services to the young people – including careers, sexual health and drug and alcohol services to name a few – which has been particularly successful in engaging young people with services they may not ordinarily seek out.

Through innovative interventions, SET draw on a range of partners and community resources to build bespoke plans that divert children from harm and risk. This can only be achieved by investing time in getting to know them but also cultivating relationships with partners. C quickly identified that DeShawn’s passion is music; he is an incredibly gifted lyricist and when he performs, his whole demeanour changes.

Knowing this, C was able to engage DeShawn with the Red Light Busking service, a community service diverts vulnerable young Londoners from harm through music. DeShawn was supported to participate in this programme, receiving guidance around his music and spending time recording in a music studio, provided by one of our community partners with whom we work closely to provide a safe space and positive activities for young people open to the SET.

SET recognises the importance of role models, and in DeShawn’s case the importance of him having relatable role models with experiences that he could relate to. C drew on another SET resource, Be Heard as One – a specialist mentoring service. Here, DeShawn was allocated a male mentor with personal experience of criminal exploitation, gang affiliation and the criminal justice system. The mentoring relationship with this professional was pivotal for DeShawn. Connecting DeShawn with somebody who shares elements of his lived experience and speak truth to him about the journey he is on, is incredibly powerful means of connecting with him.

SET ensure that children have realistic options that meet them where they are at, a critical element of deterrence from criminal exploitation. Through tireless relationship-based work, they seek to understand the push and pull factors for extrafamilial harm on an individual basis without trying to make the young person fit a mould or pathway. In DeShawn’s case, this meant listening to his experiences of being excluded from mainstream school and being unsuccessful in his GCSEs and looking at what his other options were.

DeShawn’s life looks remarkably different from before his work with SET. He has never refused to see his social worker – he actively seeks her out; he chooses to attend the weekly Engagement Groups; he no longer goes missing and his contact with the police has been infrequent; he has a part-time job at McDonalds and is getting ready to make a music video. The SET approach has led to a positive engagement from DeShawn’s parents, who now attend all meetings with the local authority. The risks to DeShawn have reduced so significantly, he is no longer on a Child Protection Plan.

In our commitment to building safety for young Londoners, Redbridge recently launched its new Contextual Safeguarding Service. At this launch, DeShawn stood in front of a crowd of over 100, including council leaders, community partners and the Department for Education. He performed a song he had written about his experience of SET, so confident that he was barely recognisable from the young person we started working with. His performance was nothing short of incredible, and he received a standing ovation.

DeShawn’s is one story, of which there are many, about the creative ways in which Redbridge is building safety for young Londoners

Supporting Information:

BIZZ – ASPIRATION STATION AUDIO

Team: Specialist Exploitation Team – Sabina Samad (Head of Service), Siobhan McGeary (Service Manager)

Main Submission:

In Redbridge, we have recognised the unique needs of our children who are at risk of extra familial harm – the need for trusting relationships with professionals, to receive intensive specialist support and to be met where they are at – and we have built a Specialist Exploitation Team (SET) to deliver this service and to keep young Londoners safe.

The SET is comprised of experienced specialist exploitation social workers who work directly with the child and their family. Through forensic analysis of referrals, SET ensures that only children who are experiencing exploitation are allocated to the team, ensuring caseloads are kept low – an average of six to eight children per worker. The combination of direct casework, manageable caseloads, specialist expertise and community partnerships, enables SET social workers to develop deep, meaningful, professional relationships with children and families, frequently spending time with them and focusing on establishing relationships and understanding their unique needs.

DeShawn* (not his real name) is one of hundreds of children who have changed their trajectory through working with SET and a voice that we would like to showcase and celebrate in this application. Subject to a child protection plan and transferred to Redbridge by another local authority, there were significant extra-familial harm concerns for DeShawn – he was just 15 years old, frequently missing and being heavily exploited through the drug supply trade. At the point of transfer, DeShawn and his parents were described as ‘hard to reach’ and ‘non-engaging.’ DeShawn was on the ‘edge of care.’

DeShawn was allocated to C, an experienced social worker within the SET. C was relentless in her approach to building a relationship with DeShawn, meeting him in places of his choosing like community spaces, home and his alternative school provision. In the early weeks when
DeShawn was arrested, C was the first to visit him in custody and attended each court hearing with him, gaining his trust by always showing up and being consistent. Amidst the crises, C made sure she was not just learning about the risks to DeShawn, but who he is as a person – what makes him happy, what he fears and what his hopes and dreams are.

As his trust with C grew, DeShawn developed the confidence to access the specialist interventions that SET have to offer. DeShawn accessed and continues to access the SET’s weekly Engagement Groups. These groups are designed to be as accessible as possible for children experiencing extra-familial harm – they take place after hours, are run by SET social workers and offer a safe community for vulnerable young people to build trusted relationships with safeguarding professionals. The Engagement Groups also bring different services to the young people – including careers, sexual health and drug and alcohol services to name a few – which has been particularly successful in engaging young people with services they may not ordinarily seek out.

Through innovative interventions, SET draw on a range of partners and community resources to build bespoke plans that divert children from harm and risk. This can only be achieved by investing time in getting to know them but also cultivating relationships with partners. C quickly identified that DeShawn’s passion is music; he is an incredibly gifted lyricist and when he performs, his whole demeanour changes. Knowing this, C was able to engage DeShawn with the Red Light Busking service, a community service diverts vulnerable young Londoners from harm through music. DeShawn was supported to participate in this programme, receiving guidance around his music and spending time recording in a music studio, provided by one of our community partners with whom we work closely to provide a safe space and positive activities for young people open to the SET.

SET recognises the importance of role models, and in DeShawn’s case the importance of him having relatable role models with experiences that he could relate to. C drew on another SET resource, Be Heard as One – a specialist mentoring service. Here, DeShawn was allocated a male mentor with personal experience of criminal exploitation, gang affiliation and the criminal justice system. The mentoring relationship with this professional was pivotal for DeShawn. Connecting DeShawn with somebody who shares elements of his lived experience and speak truth to him about the journey he is on, is incredibly powerful means of connecting with him. SET ensure that children have realistic options that meet them where they are at, a critical element of deterrence from
criminal exploitation. Through tireless relationship-based work, they seek to understand the push and pull factors for extrafamilial harm on an individual basis without trying to make the young person fit a mould or pathway. In DeShawn’s case, this meant listening to his experiences of being excluded from mainstream school and being unsuccessful in his GCSEs and looking at what his other options were. DeShawn’s life looks remarkably different from before his work with SET. He has never refused to see his social worker – he actively seeks her out; he chooses to attend the weekly

Engagement Groups; he no longer goes missing and his contact with the police has been infrequent; he has a part-time job at McDonalds and is getting ready to make a music video. The SET approach has led to a positive engagement from DeShawn’s parents, who now attend all meetings with the local authority. The risks to DeShawn have reduced so significantly, he is no longer on a Child Protection Plan. In our commitment to building safety for young Londoners, Redbridge recently launched its new Contextual Safeguarding Service. At this launch, DeShawn stood in front of a crowd of over 100, including council leaders, community partners and the Department for Education. He performed a song he had written about his experience of SET, so confident that he was barely recognisable from the young person we started working with. His performance was nothing short of incredible, and he received a standing ovation. DeShawn’s is one story, of which there are many, about the creative ways in which Redbridge is building safety for young Londoners

Team: Multi-Agency Response

Partners: Contextual Safeguarding Leads, Leaving Care, Targeted Youth Support, Your Healthcare (community health provider), SWL St Georges Mental Health Trust, Substance Misuse Team, Adult Social Care, Virtual School, Housing, voluntary and community sector services e.g. Refuge, Crying Sons and Rescue and Response

Main Submission:

Kingston and Richmond Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (KRSCP) identified a gap in provision for young people transitioning into adulthood, when there is a
medium to high risk of violence and/or exploitation. Safeguarding Adult Review (Slyvia SAR) highlighted transitional safeguarding issues were not fully understood, resulting in significant gaps in the service the young person received.

KRSCP, Kingston Safeguarding Adults Board (KSAB) and Community Safety Partnership (CSP) committed to improving the transitional safeguarding response
and agreed as a shared priority. Through effective systems leadership, we have led the way on this work, driving change and innovation. We have inspired practitioners to develop a shared understanding of transitional safeguarding, develop creative solutions and improved collaboration to safeguard our most vulnerable adolescents.

A Multi-agency task and finish group, chaired by the Associate Director Family and Adolescents, reviewed the multi agency response, pathways and support offer for adolescents transitioning into adulthood. Identified:

Children’s safeguarding and support usually end at 18, but experiences of harm and trauma during childhood, youth and early adulthood may continue to affect
people across the life course, with unmet needs requiring complex (as well as potentially costly) interventions later in life. For example some of our young adults
are causing harm or exploiting others, they are our future parents and/or present later as adults with multiple and complex needs.

Unmet needs for young people transitioning into adulthood where there were ongoing risks of violence and/or exploitation, particularly if they experienced poor
education pathways, substance misuse issues, mental health, family breakdown, or criminal justice processes.

Several panels oversee different groups of vulnerable adults, but not one fit-for-purpose to support those with ongoing risk of violence and/or exploitation, as per the London Child Exploitation Operating Protocol 2021.

VASA protocol developed and includes the referral pathway and Terms of Reference for the VASA Panel, which oversees referrals for young adults with
continued significant risk and whereby a problem solving approach can be applied alongside the additional resources available.

A bespoke budget for the VASA panel, ensuring that the young person was at the centre of the support plan and involved in decisions around the type of support that would best help them.

Exploitation Training programme delivered to build professional’s confidence in responding effectively to exploitation.

Additional investment for 2024-26 includes:
● 18+ Missing and Exploitation Worker and Contextual Safeguarding Lead (£45K)
● Crying Sons Community Outreach (£50K)
● VASA Coordinator (£20K)
● Bespoke budget for VASA panel (£10K)

Exploitation training ensured participants gained a comprehensive understanding of exploitation dynamics and transitional safeguarding. By adopting a whole
system approach, attendees learned how collaboration between various stakeholders is essential for effectively identifying, preventing and addressing exploitation. Attendees were equipped not only to recognise, prevent, and address exploitation risks but also to contribute to disrupting and dismantling exploitation networks.

VASA Panel
66 referrals, mostly from Achieving for Children (AfC) as part of the transitional step-down/exit plans. Consistent for the past two years, showing the importance of
the panel.

65% of referrals are for males, mostly at risk of criminal exploitation. Females most likely to be at risk of sexual exploitation or all three (sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, high harm).

44% of cases have substance misuse and mental health concerns, heightening levels of vulnerability and exploitation. Housing emerged as the most impactful factor, with 30% of cases experiencing a two-level reduction in risk. Crime and exploitation risk levels showed stability and 30% seeing a reduction by one level.

The panel has been instrumental in supporting case workers to understand risks they may not have previously understood. Minimal increases in risks, with 26% of cases affected. Among these, relationships with others and mental health were the most common areas of concern. Panel discussions played a crucial role in identifying areas where adolescents needed support, uncovering needs that were not initially recognized by the referring agency (65% / 14 cases).

Commissioned Research in Practice to review our transitional safeguarding approach to ensure continuous improvement. This presentation outlines the work. A report will be completed by Research in Practice which will assist us in further developing best practice and mainstreaming this work.

Dez Holmes (Research in Practice) has provided the following feedback:
To my knowledge, Kingston are the first local area in the country to use the community safety and violence reduction agenda as the vehicle to develop their Transitional Safeguarding approach. This has been a hugely exciting opportunity for Research in Practice to learn alongside Kingston colleagues, and we have been delighted by the positive engagement of professionals across all key agencies.

By building on strengths, including the well-established VASA panel, this project aims to refresh and embed an understanding of Transitional Safeguarding across the partnership. Through focus groups and workshops with multi-agency colleagues we have heard first-hand how committed local professionals are to ensuring all young people can be and feel safe as they make their journey into adulthood. It is a privilege to be supporting this kind of innovation.

Voice of the child
Our young people told us:

• “Not much in the way of expectations, being in various other countries that are useless. I hoped I’d get some kind of support but didn’t know what that would look like and I didn’t expect as much support as I got “
• “Getting financial support with food vouchers which has been really helpful and they were really quick in responding and would always grant the application.”
• “All round great support and a massive help to me. Fast response times and very supportive in terms of other help such as mental health referrals.”

The model is transferable to other boroughs as it focuses on systems change, using existing resources. Our transitional safeguarding approach has demonstrated that a small amount of investment has made a significant difference to the outcomes for some of our most ‘at risk’ young people as they transition into adulthood and who would not have had access to any support.

Supporting Information:

VASA protocol

Research in Practice Overview

Sylvia SAR

Feedback from professionals:
“Initially it felt a bit tedious, with the referral to be completed and having to wait for the panel. This was probably because I was after a “quick fix” for my young person. Once I became part of the process, it all made more sense and why things are done the way they are. So it has been a learning process for me. The support has been excellent and those I have been involved with have been very helpful.”

“I feel it was helpful to have lots of practitioners around the table to seek their views in a way that I may not have reflected on, as we all come from different perspectives and areas of expertise. “

“A big thank you to all those that helped my young person feel safer and strong enough to make a disclosure that hopefully has taken him away from some very dangerous people.”

Team: Children and Family Services (Clinical team and Social Work Teams)

Main Submission:

Beginning in March 2020, the Clinical Team in Westminster, working jointly with social work teams, established an embedded service for carrying out, the majority of, family assessments for care proceedings within the service. This is work that has traditionally been outsourced by local authorities when engaging in the Family Justice System. Assessments are now carried out by our clinical and social work staff in Westminster. They develop from the social worker’s existing relationship with, and knowledge of, the family, so as not to introduce too many new professionals to parents and children, at an often stressful and confusing time for them. A clinician joining the assessment brings therapeutic expertise and a new perspective to the assessment. By emphasising the importance of the joint working between clinicians and social workers, social workers’ confidence in their own expertise and knowledge of the families is developed.

A significant advantage for families in Westminster is that the therapeutic interventions is available within the service, so can be offered during the assessment and/or accessed more rapidly and easily following recommendations from the assessments.

An innovative element of parenting assessments and further intervention we offer is video interactive guidance (VIG). The service developed as there were systemic therapists within the team who had previously used VIG within parenting assessments in other services. It is a strength-based assessment and intervention method, which uses filming ‘better than usual’ moments of interaction between parents and their child or children to build strengths within the family. The first step is helping the parent or carer to establish a ‘Helping Question’ by helping them to focus on what they would like to change. The practitioner aims to establish a collaborative relationship, which helps parents to identify and name the areas they want to achieve change in. The VIG practitioner and parent (and child) are then actively involved in creating a film of a successful interactions. The VIG practitioner then edits the film, and in a separate session, called the ‘Shared Review’ shows short excerpts of successful moments to the parent. These are intentionally showing strengths only and are not suitable for evidence in court. Together, parent and VIG practitioner establish what worked well.

Our use of VIG in assessments supports parents to reflect on their parental role, encourage parents to make sense of their thoughts/actions and supports parents to actively explore the changes needed to improve the quality of their relationship with their children.

Impact and feedback
We have utilised VIG in a number of assessments and have seen significant benefits for those families. One mother, who had VIG during her parenting assessment, although the assessment did not recommend that her younger two children return to her care, still requested a second round of VIG post -assessment to continue improving the relationship with her daughter who was in foster care. She described the stills/clips from the VIG as ‘the ‘blueprint’ of who she is, who she can be, that had become lost during the very difficult time for her and her children.’

When asked what it like to experience VIG during the parenting assessment, she said it ‘gave a sense of hope’ and she felt it ‘allowed the assessors to see something else during the assessment beyond a problem saturated story.’ She spoke about VIG ‘planting the seeds for a new narrative about herself.’ Through the VIG she was able to see moments where she was giving something important to her daughter and their relationship. She felt motivated to continue to work on herself and her relationship with her child. Although the conclusion of care proceedings recommended long-term foster care, the judge decided to increase contact with mum as he felt that the mother’s relationship with the child had improved and was a very positive influence on
the child. This recommendation was atypical for the courts, and positive for the mother and child and the possibility of reunification in the future.

In another assessment, the child stayed with dad, who had not previously been the primary carer, during the assessment process and remained living with dad post assessment.  We saw changes during the intervention of dad offering his son more attuned interactions and responding more to the initiatives of his child.

One assessment resulted in mum and baby being moved from a foster placement into the community following a successful parenting assessment.  The positive and attuned relationship mum has with the baby was positively commented on in her parenting assessment. Another assessment resulted in a son returning to mum’s care, following him being in a family and friends’ placement.  Mum was able to attune to her son better through the VIG work, which enabled her to feel that he was also listening better to her when she needed to direct his behaviour.

In a number of the VIG assessments we have carried out, the parents have requested a further intervention of VIG following on from the parenting assessment, including from parents where the parenting assessment was negative.  They all expressed that they felt VIG had been a good experience for them, they had learnt a lot from the intervention, and they wanted to extend that learning following on from the assessment.

Practitioners have expressed that VIG has enabled them to maintain a positive relationship with parents, which has continued post the parenting assessment.  Having an established and positive relationship with the practitioners then supported the parent accessing further support following the assessment.

Next steps
We are currently at the stage of training more practitioners, social workers, early help practitioners and therapists, so VIG can be offered more routinely in assessments, thinking particularly about opportunities within the family hubs and during single assessments at the front door. Two therapists from the service presented on our work in parenting assessments at the Association of Video Interaction Guidance UK International conference this year, which was positively received by their peers. This presentation included a video interview with a parent four months after her second VIG intervention to explore the mother’s experience of VIG both within the parenting assessment and post assessment.