Hertfordshire is the first area to be inspected under the new framework developed to focus on children who are victims of domestic abuse. Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), Ofsted and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) visited Hertfordshire in October. They examined the work that the police, probation services, the NHS and Hertfordshire County Council do to help children aged up to 7 who are experiencing harm from domestic abuse.
Inspectors summarised their findings from this multi-agency inspection in a letter, which was published on Thursday 12 December. They found:
- Most unborn children and children aged 0 to 7 who are victims of domestic abuse receive the right types of multi-agency help and support that they need. They benefit from consistent relationships and high support from multi-agency professionals.
- Children with different needs receive a wide range of trauma-informed and individualised help and interventions that support them in their recovery.
- The family safeguarding service is making a tangible and positive difference to the lives of children aged 0 to 7 and unborn children. The embedded family safeguarding teams are providing a whole-family multidisciplinary response to tackling the root causes of domestic abuse within families, while keeping children within their families when this is safe to do so.
- Leaders across the partnership in Hertfordshire are committed to working together to improve the support and services for all children who are victims of domestic abuse. There is a strong ethos and culture of openness and learning across the partnership.
The inspection also identified areas of improvement for the partnership. These include better identification and response to indicators and signs of potential harm to children from domestic abuse, ensuring training and learning is put into practice, the quality of police referrals and the need for a more consistent multi-agency approach.
Prof. Natalie Hammond, Chair of the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership and Sarah Perman, Chair of the Hertfordshire Domestic Abuse Partnership, have issued a joint statement following the publication of the inspectors’ findings:
“We welcome the rigorous scrutiny of the measures we are taking across the partnership to keep children who have experienced domestic abuse safe from harm and respond to their needs.
“The inspectors have identified strong areas of practice, the breadth of support available in Hertfordshire and the maturity of our partnership working. The report reflects the commitment of leaders across the partnership to work together to improve the support and services for all children who are victims of domestic abuse.
“The joint targeted area inspection has given us an opportunity to get focused feedback about where we provide a good service in Hertfordshire and how we can continue to learn and improve.
“Domestic abuse ruins lives, sometimes irreversibly. Working in partnership is essential in keeping children safe from harm, meeting the needs of victims and working with abusers to provide opportunity for behaviour change whilst holding them accountable. Across the partnership, we have invested in prevention and services to support survivors of domestic abuse, in addition to raising awareness around its impact.
“To continue building on our strengths, and deliver improvements where needed, we have recently established a Joint Children & Families Domestic Abuse Group of strategic partners. This group will take forward the development and implementation of an Action Plan in response to the inspection report.”
The group will report into both the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership and the Domestic Abuse Partnership. The partnership will provide a multi-agency response to the findings and an action plan will be submitted to Ofsted by 11 April 2025.
Help and support is available for anyone who is experiencing, or has been subjected to, domestic abuse or other harmful behaviours, Hertfordshire residents can visit www.hertssunflower.org or call the Herts Domestic Abuse Helpline on 08 088 088 088 for advice and signposting.