The Domestic Abuse Referral Team [DART]
Ensuring that children and vulnerable adults affected by
domestic abuse are identified, protected and supported at the
earliest possible opportunity
Background
There are between 7,000 – 10,000 children in Nottingham at risk from domestic
abuse. This means at least 3 in every class of 30 children.
An average 360 referrals per month were made to Children’s Social Care
Screening by the police between June and December 2011.
Adult Services had 616 safeguarding referrals for this period which included 66
referrals which were deemed to involve domestic abuse (10.71%). An average of
38 adults per month were considered at MARAC between April and December
2012, of which 48% are recorded as having a disability.
Domestic abuse presents a massive challenge to the City both in terms of
capacity to respond to safeguarding concerns and the volume of crime. The
DART is being introduced to respond to these pressures by implementing a multiagency team who will be co-located and create efficiencies by accessing
partnership information in one place.
The Team
The DART is a multi-agency team of people who continue to be
employed by their individual agencies (local authority, police and
health services) but who are co-located. Co-location is considered
the most effective way of building relationships, trust and
understanding between agencies so that staff are confident about
sharing information.
This multi-agency team will deal exclusively with domestic abuse
concerns within the City where there are children or a pregnant
woman in the household or where a vulnerable adult who meets the threshold for
Social Care Services is being subjected to domestic abuse.
Concerns in relation to all other safeguarding concerns, both for children and
vulnerable adults, will continue to be managed via existing processes.
The aim of the team is to:
 Make better-informed decisions about risks to children, young people
and vulnerable adults as a consequence of improved information
sharing across the partnership
 Make decisions more quickly than they have been in the past. This
includes identifying cases where early intervention could
remove the risk of harm.




Change the existing culture based upon a more progressive
information sharing and multi-agency response to improved outcomes
for children, young people and vulnerable adults
Reduce the number of rereferrals
Develop a more empowered/skilled workforce, allowing for shared
multi-agency decisions to take place
Implement significant improvements so that these will be noted within
external inspections
The team will be operational from Monday 25th June 2012 and will initially
consist of:
2 Specialist Coordinators with management responsibility [Health and Family
Communities Teams]
2 Family Support Workers (Children’s Social Care)
1 Adult Worker
2 police staff
1 administrative officer
The team will be co-located at Oxclose Lane Police Station and have full IT
access to Social Care, Police, and Health records. An agreed information sharing
protocol is in place.
The team will deliver services from 8.30am-5pm Monday to Friday
Impact upon front-line practice
Staff should continue to complete the DASH Risk Assessment Form as identified
within the NCSCB Practice Guidance
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=28291&p=0 when
issues of concern in relation to domestic abuse are identified. Please note that
this form has been updated so that professionals completing it will inform relevant
persons that the risk assessment will be considered by a multi-agency team and
consequently information will be shared about them.
For concerns in relation to children, a CAF should be completed where
appropriate and consistent with the expectation of the Family Support
Pathway.http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/ics/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=31608&p=0
The police will refer in concerns for children as per their local force procedures.
The completed Risk Assessment Form will be e-mailed across to the DART on
their group e-mail address of: [email protected]. The team can
be contacted on 0115 9150494
Associated paperwork, where available, should also be attached. The DART will
replace existing routes into Social Care Screening/Duty/Access for
domestic abuse cases.
Members of the public will be able to contact the team directly via the phone. This
number will be communicated within the next couple of weeks.
Contact should continue to be made directly with the police where
immediate concerns about the safety of an adult or child exist.
Domestic abuse concerns on cases with current agency
involvement
Where domestic abuse concerns arise in cases where there is current agency
involvement a DASH risk assessment should still be completed in line with the
inter-agency practice guidance. If the outcome is that the risk rating is appropriate
to the current level of service provision then a copy of the risk assessment should
be sent to the DART for logging and quality assurance purposes. It is assumed
that the information sharing processes will be taking place as part of the existing
case work. Where the risk rating is increased then the DASH should be sent to
the DART for their full consideration.
Outcome of DART involvement
As a consequence of the information sharing processes that take place within the
DART, a review of the level of risk will be undertaken and actions identified.
These actions may result in you or your agency being asked to pick up a piece of
work with the child, their family or a vulnerable adult. This is because DART is not
a delivery model and consequently does not have sufficient resources to offer
direct work.
This is work that the partnership should be undertaking already but by offering a
more coordinated approach, you should hopefully see the benefits of improved
information about the family or vulnerable adult. It is also anticipated that with
time, efficiencies should be created as improved information sharing will lead to
services being delivered earlier, resulting in better outcomes and a reduction of
cases coming back into the system.
Links to MARAC
The DART will consider those cases that need to be discussed at the MARAC. It
is hoped that the earlier information sharing process in the DART will add greater
value to the decision making around these referrals. Consistent with the current
process, Women’s Aid Integrated Services will also be involved with these
decisions.
If you have any questions please contact your agency representative on the
DART Steering Group:
Children’s Social Care: Colin Pennington/Helen Blackman
Adult’s Social Care: Sharon Green
Families and Communities Teams: Viv McCrossen
Police: DCI Simon Alexander or DCI Mick Luke
Health: Phyllis Brackenbury
For all other agencies/services: Mandy Goodenough.
Mandy can be contacted on 0115 8764813 or
[email protected]