Background

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J is a 14-year-old girl living in Nottingham City. She witnessed domestic violence against her mother in 2015. She is aware her mother’s life was threatened with a knife by her ex-partner who also attempted strangling her mother, resulting in him going to prison where he currently remains.

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There were no concerns with J’s behaviour at school but at home the relationship between J and her mother was not a healthy one.  J had been physically and verbally abusive to her mother, which involved threatening to stab her with a kitchen knife.

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Intervention

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On the CYP Knife Crime workers first visit to J’s school, the safeguarding lead stated she was concerned about J as she was a model student in school but aware of the relationship with her mother, which had been ongoing for a while.

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Support needs identified:

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• Self esteem

• Anger management

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Support sessions included:

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• What is abuse?

• Safety planning

• Healthy relationships

• Online safety

• Healthy coping strategies

• Self-esteem activities

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Further work

Due to J’s vulnerabilities, Social Care arranged a CSE strategy meeting which J and her mother attended.

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At the meeting the family disclosed that they had been verbally abused by unknown males that had come to the property, looking for a member of their extended family. The men had threating to burn down the house.

 

The outcome of the meeting included:

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• Plans for the family to be rehoused out of area

• Social Care to report the incidents to the police to support the safety of the family

• Any further incidents to be reported to the police by the family

• CYP Knife Crime worker to continue support with a J s her behaviour towards mother had escalated due to the recent threat to the family

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The next day the CYP Knife Crime worker received a call from J’s school stating that J and her mother had received another threat and so were not sleeping and were frightened to return home.

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J did not want to go into refuge, as she did not want to leave her dog behind. The worker contacted the Pet Fostering Coordinator for her organisation and they were able to work together in finding a hotel for J and family and a suitable dog kennel for the  dog.

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While they were at the hotel the worker continued to support J. The worker revisited grounding techniques with J so that she could use them whilst at the hotel and activities she could do e.g. arts and craft.

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The worker was in daily contact with J, whilst they were accommodated, until the family were rehoused out of the area in order to keep them safe.

 

Outcome of support

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• J stated she found the anger management strategies effective and by sharing them with her mother they were able to support each other

• Whilst in school J looked forward to her support sessions and was able to reflect and discuss her good and bad days to identify trigger points.

• J said she understood more about healthy/unhealthy relationships

• Identify key people in her safety plan

• J’s mother stated that she valued the support that J received and support her to engage with other agencies to try to keep them safe.