# Developing Responses To Peer-Abuse: Learning From The Msu Local Site Support Project

 Dr Carlene Firmin MBE, University of Bedfordshire Sarah Wright, London Borough of Hackney  
 

- Partnership between UoB, Imkaan and Girls against 
Gangs project  
- Funded by Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Trust for 
London and Samworth Foundation  
- Delivered in-depth support to develop practice in 11 
local sites over 2.5 years in addition to internship programme for young people and policy engagement  
- Site support comprised two stages: 
1)
Audit of local practice - 6-9 months 
2)
Development and delivery of an action plan - 16 months  

## Structure Of Site Work

National Expert Advisory Panel and Government advisory groups Site training, strategic advice and assistance - 43 
local authorities  

## 1) Holistic Nature Of Peer-On-Peer Abuse

Physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse, and coercive control, exercised within young people's relationships 

## 2) Contextual Dynamics Of Peer-On-Peer Abuse Learning From Across Sites

•
Majority of responses to peer-on-peer abuse are strategically 
positioned to engage with individual young people and their families 
•
There are practical, conceptual and strategic barriers to addressing 
the contextual dynamics of peer-on-peer abuse  
•
Within individual sites there are examples of individual services or 
practitioners who are developing a contextual response to peer-onpeer abuse  
•
Delivery focused on capturing, scaling-up and amplifying evidence of contextual practice including: 
-
Developing contextual harmful sexual behaviour meetings  
-
Working with fair access panels to identify the use of managed 
moves in response to peer-on-peer abuse 
-
Developing contextual and holistic problem profiles   

## Contextual Responses– Examples Identified During Audits Reclaiming 'Vulnerable' Peer Group Mapping, Assessment And Contexts Intervention

•
Social workers and youth offending 
workers identified links between their 
individual cases 
•
Met to map and refined assessment 
•
Data used to identify 
environments where young people are being groomed i.e. shopping 
centre  
•
Designed complimentary interventions 

## Protecting Vulnerable Homes

•
Specialist workers, social workers and police visit those environments on a regular basis 
•
Home identified where peer-on-peer abuse occurring 
•
Lived in by mother with physical and learning disability  
•
Young people expect to see them there and begin to talk to them  
•
Lighting and CCTV improved 
•
Engagement with schools officer  
•
Peer group engaged through youth 
service and policing  
•
Slowly this becomes a space  where exploitation can't occur  
•
Home no longer used for abuse 
 

## Extending Child Concepts Of Child Protection (1)

•
Harm caused by the parent/carer  
OR  
•
Capacity of parents to safeguard young people from 
significant harm  
 
•
Processes in place to respond - S.17 (Child in Need), S.47 
(Child Protection)  
•
Case conferencing and child protection plan  
•
Legal removal of the child or placement on voluntary agreement  

## Transfer (1) - Capacity To Safeguard

Who's capacity in which space? 

 
AND 
 
Which space is impacting which service's capacity? 

## Extending Child Concepts Of Child Protection (2) Genograms Peer Group Information Capture Form Workshop To Identify Current Use:

- For early intervention - For assessments - To task interventions into contexts  
 
Capture form used to aid social care and youth justice assessment - Nature of peer relationships (protective or presenting risk) - Role within the group  
- Open to social care or youth justice  

## Aspirational Profiling Contextual Safeguarding (Firmin Et Al 2016):

•
Seeks to prevent, identify, assess and intervene with the social 
conditions of abuse  
•
Incorporate extra-familial contexts into traditional child protection and 
safeguarding frameworks 
•
Develop partnerships with sectors/individuals who are responsible for the nature of extrafamilial contexts  
•
Monitor outcomes of success in relation to contextual, as well as 
individual, change 
 

## Implications For Local Practice - A View From

Hackney  
For more information and resources visit our website www.beds.ac.uk/ic carlene.firmin@beds.ac.uk 
@uniofbedscse