Research, advice and support

Eighteen and Under

Providing support for young victims of abuse

For any person who has been a victim of abuse, neglect, bullying, racism or homophobia, it can be very difficult to find the means to escape and recover from their harrowing experience.

Based in Dundee, Eighteen and Under offers support and advice to young people who are victims of abuse. The charity created the Violence Is Preventable (VIP) Project, a multi- award-winning abuse and violence prevention programme for children, young people and vulnerable adults throughout the UK and abroad.

“Violent behaviour is increasing in Scotland and indeed worldwide, so we saw a great need for an evidence-based abuse and violence prevention programme,” says Irene Clark, office manager at Eighteen and Under.

To date the VIP Project programme has been delivered to over 100,000 children. In 2009 alone, the programme was delivered to 5,600 school children, 251 teachers, 560 children in community groups and 2,000 senior citizens and vulnerable adults. Training was also given to 36 agencies throughout the UK, including ten child protection agencies.

The delivery of the project manifested itself in around 10,000 telephone calls, 1,721 e-mails, 5,254 texts and 850 hours of face-to-face support.

Clark says: “We conducted some research and although prevention is better than cure, no evidence-based prevention work was happening.  Violence is a learned response and it was what children were being taught at home and in society as the norm. We sought to change this.

“The VIP Project has exceeded all our expectations. It is unique, exciting, has proven value in getting disclosures of abuse and is now the leading abuse prevention programme worldwide,” she adds.

Mrs Irene Clark
Office manager
1 Victoria Road
Dundee
Tayside
DD 1EL
01382 206 222
www.violenceispreventable.org.uk
Reg no: SCO26688

FANY (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps)

Speeding up disaster response

The aim of FANY (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) is to support both the civil and military authorities, in particular during an emergency. With the City of London Police (CoLP) it created the Casualty Bureau Incident Support Officer role, now the operational mobile arm of the Casualty Bureau, assisting in the disaster victim identification process.

The need for the initiative arose after the 7/7 London bombings. Based on figures of 56 fatalities, 700 injured, and 44,000 calls made to the Casualty Bureau it was clear there was an urgent need for information to be transferred quickly and accurately back to the police. However, the process was taking up to eight hours. CoLP and the FANY indentified a role for a mobile unit of women support officers to assist at hospitals and the scene of an incident.

The officers are able to input details directly into laptop computers and special mobile phones so that data and intelligence can be sent back to CoLP immediately. This speeds up the process of disseminating facts about missing persons and relaying this information to the public.

FANY’s achievement is measured by the fact it now has 36 trained ISO Casualty Bureau system experts on call 24/7 for an emergency. One of them says: “I feel the role helps the community in times of crisis and I would like to feel it is invaluable.  By deploying teams of trained, organised, empathetic women to the scene of a major incident I believe we help create a sense of order amid chaos.”

Commandant Annie Cockram
Commanding officer
FANY
TA Centre
95 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 2DX
020 7976 5459
www.fany.org.uk
Reg no: 249360

Asylum Aid

Improving the treatment of women within the asylum process

Female asylum seekers now have a better chance at having their unique and complex issues understood and respected by the British immigration system as a result of a campaign by Asylum Aid.

In late 2008 the charity embarked on a campaign to promote a Charter of Rights of Women Seeking Asylum, designed to encourage cultural and strategic change within the UK Border Agency (UKBA). The charter was a response to the fact that cases of gender-specific persecution - such as rape, honour crimes and forced genital mutilation – were not well understood, or treated appropriately or sensitively.

The Charter, launched in October 2008, quickly attracted the support of other bodies working in the field; endorsed by 200 organisations and receiving backing from both the UNHCR and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Asylum Aid pushed the issue with relevant politicians and set up meetings with senior members of the UKBA to stress the urgency and importance of the issue. As a result, in December last year the UKBA chief executive appointed a member of its senior management team to lead on gender issues and put together its own action plan to deal with the treatment of women and women-specific issues within the asylum process.

With a team of just 17, Asylum Aid launched the second phase of its campaign, Every Single Woman, last December – accompanied by a widely-viewed documentary.

The charity’s advice work with asylum seekers has an application success rate of 93 per cent, three times the national average, and it has used its experience from face-to-face dealings with the individuals to inform its influential charter to improve the experiences of every female asylum seeker.

Mr Maurice Wren
Director
Asylum Aid
Club Union House
253-254 Upper Street
London
N1 1RY
020 7354 9631
www.asylumaid.org.uk
Reg no: 328729

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