Newham Domestic Violence Forum

Our Vision

We have a vision of a world where violence against women and children no longer occurs. In those rare relationships where abuse is happening, services to effectively intervene will be readily and easily accessible.

Women will know that domestic violence is not their fault. Instead of women and children fleeing violent men, it will be the abuser who is prevented from abusing again and be made to take responsibility for his actions.

Society at large will no longer collude with abuse and domestic violence will be viewed as wholly unacceptable by everyone, everywhere.

We are committed to trying to contribute whatever we can to achieving this vision of a violence-free world.

Definition of Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence is a pattern of abusive behaviours used by a person to control and dominate their partner or ex-partner.

The use of abusive behaviour is intended to frighten and make the partner or ex-partner behave in ways that they do not freely choose.

Abusive behaviours can range from verbal put-downs, threats, pushing and shoving to extreme physical, sexual and psychological violence sometimes resulting in murder.

Typically 97% of domestic violence incidents are perpetrated by men against women and it is to address this problem that Newham Domestic Violence Forum (NDVF) exist.

The term Domestic Violence will be used by NDVF to define the violence that is perpetrated by men against women partner or ex-partners.

This does not prevent member agencies from using the term Domestic Violence to mean a wider range of relationship situations that their particular agencies work with.

However in order to effectively target resources NDVF will focus mainly on violence by men towards their women partners or ex-partners. In most instances improvement in service provisions and co-ordination will be of benefit to all those experiencing violence in a domestic setting irrespective of gender or relationship.

All member agencies of Newham Domestic Violence Forum believe that domestic violence is unacceptable, it is a crime and that everyone has the right to live their life free from fear, intimidation and violence.

Domestic violence is experienced regardless of age, race, sexuality, culture, social class, religion, physical and mental abilities.

The term Relationship Violence will be used by NDVF to define the violence that men experience from their women partners. Similarly Relationship Violence will also be used to define the violence that lesbians and gay men experience from their partners. Although these groups of people represent a minority statistics, this does not in anyway lessens the seriousness of the abuse they experience.

NDVF will define the violence that are perpetrated by one family member on another family member e.g. father to adult daughter, adult son to mother as Family Violence.

Women’s Charter

Women are entitled to have the agencies they contact for help, treat the abuse they experience as serious, it is a criminal assault on their physical, psychological and emotional well being.

Women are entitled to non-judgmental, high quality services, which will enable them to lead fulfilling lives as equal members of the community.

Women are entitled to professionalism in the delivery of services. Agencies’ active participation and co-operation in the Forum are an integral part of creating improvement and co-ordination of such services.

Women are entitled to open and honest accountability of agencies in their provision of services. The practices of the Forum will be continually evaluated and monitored against inter-agency agreed targets to ensure that services provided are transparent, effective and useful to women dealing with violence.

All women are entitled to these services. In its work and service delivery, the Forum will ensure that Equality issues are incorporated at each stage. This will include the consideration of services for women based on race, nationality, sexuality, marital status, age, class, health, disability and religion.

Terms of reference

Overall aims:

To co-ordinate and develop services to effectively meet the needs of women and children experiencing domestic violence. This includes direct service provision, action intended to hold abusers accountable and work to reduce the tolerance of domestic violence amongst the general public.

Aims:

� To reduce the extent and impact of domestic violence on women and children.

�To achieve a policy of co-operation and co-ordination of services between agencies.

�To ensure that each agency plays an integral role in providing a response that is strategic in the prevention of domestic violence.

�To identify gaps in service provision and make recommendations for the development of future services in Newham.

�To achieve successful provision of services that are meaningful to the women and children seeking help.

�To identify mechanisms whereby abusers can be held accountable for their behaviour.

�To raise awareness and understanding of domestic violence amongst the general public with the aim of reducing its tolerance of violence toward women and children.


Objectives:

This will be achieved by:

�Having a common understanding and definition of domestic violence.

�Defining the role and responsibilities of the individual agency in the inter-agency process.

�Promoting and maintaining co-operation and joint action to increase awareness of domestic violence in the community and agencies.

�The development of practices and procedures that are relevant to co-ordinated service provision. This will include an inter-agency procedure for referrals, monitoring and evaluation.

�Receiving and delivering training to develop a consistent response and approach.

�Identifying and promoting the creation of new services and preventative measures to end the abuse of women in the home.

�Participate in carry out the domestic violence work plan from year to year.

�Participate in the evaluation of the effectiveness of the inter-agency approach, both in its direct impact upon the lives of women and its indirect effect through better co-ordinated provisions.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Forum will develop monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure that its Aims and Objectives are effectively implemented.

Membership Requirements

Agreement with principles of the Women’s Charter as outlined.

Agreement with Terms of Reference of the Domestic Violence Forum as outlined.

Agreement with the Terms and Conditions of Membership as outlined.

Membership form for Newham Domestic Violence Forum(PDF)

Terms and conditions of Newham Domestic Violence Forum

Membership

Membership is open to all relevant agencies that work in London Borough of Newham.

The Senior Management of the agency has to agree to the Terms and Conditions of membership and to Terms of Reference of the Domestic Violence Forum.

Unless a member of Senior Management is attending in person, an appropriate member of staff should be appointed to act as representative of the Agency.

The Agency’s Senior Management will be responsible for ensuring membership requirements of the Forum are implemented fully.

Representatives on the Domestic Violence Forum are expected to undertake relevant tasks to progress domestic violence work in Newham and devote a sufficient amount of time and energy to this work. Ideally, representation would constitute a core part of their job description.

A list of participating agencies in the membership of the Forum is provided in this pack.

A copy of the Terms of Reference is provided in this pack.

Attendance on the Forum

Members of the Forum are required to attend the full Forum meetings once every two months.

Members are required to forward their apologies or appoint a substitute representative to attend on her / his behalf when they are unable to attend the Forum meetings.

Apologies for meetings, requests for information, any papers necessary for the Forum meetings can be made to the Domestic Violence Service Manager who has the responsibility to provide administrative support to the Forum.

On three consecutive non-attendances of the Forum meetings, membership of the forum will be terminated and the Agency will have to re-apply for new membership. A letter will be sent informing the agency of this..

Responsibility of the Agency’s Representative

The Representative has a duty to ensure that information from the Domestic Violence Forum is distributed to all relevant staff in their particular agency.

This would include reporting back to the Agency’s Senior Management to ensure that they are kept up to date with the work of the Domestic Violence Forum.

It is also the responsibility of the Representative to inform their own Senior Management of any implication resulting from decisions made around inter-agency workings.

The Representative is expected to seek approval and agreement from the relevant officers in their Agency to progress any developments in inter-agency working undertaken by the Domestic Violence Forum

Agreements made by the Representative at all Domestic Violence Forum meetings and any resulting Sub-group meetings will be taken as agreements from the Agency as a whole.

Representatives will be required to produce a short annual statement on how the above has been implemented.