Teenage Relationship Abuse

Introduction

In 2011 the Gloucestershire Online Pupil Service (OPS) Survey told us that 5.5% of children and young people witness domestic abuse on a daily or weekly basis. In 2012, 6% of years 8, 10 and 12 told us that they witness domestic abuse on a daily basis. Is this problem getting worse for our children and young people living in Gloucestershire?
On the1st November 2011, 386 children were subject to Child Protection Plans in Gloucestershire and 56.22% of these were where domestic abuse was a significant risk factor.
From 1st April to 1st November 2011, 433 children were discussed at MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference), a meeting which discusses the highest risk victims and their children in Gloucestershire.
The DARP (Domestic Abuse Referral Process) team in Gloucestershire discuss about 125 families on average per month. These families are identified when there has been an incident reported to the police and at that time there is no involvement by Social Care.

There is a recognition within the Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy that prevention is key to reducing the harm caused by these issues. A large part of the prevention agenda is to raise the awareness of healthy relationships amongst all members of the public which includes children and young people.

On 1st April 2012, a new definition of domestic abuse will be used nationally which will recognise a victim from the age of 16 not 18 years. As a result of this, there will be a number of national campaigns raising the awareness of teenage relationship abuse.

This educational resource pack has been produced as a result of collaboration with Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning (www.ghll.org.uk) and was written and trialled by Leading Teachers from that team. It was created in partnership with professionals working in the field of domestic abuse with the intention of being used by teachers as part of the PSHE Sex/Relationship Education curriculum and aimed at Year 9/10 secondary school pupils. The main focus of this pack is to look at the topic of relationship abuse and encourage young people to start to think about their own experiences and behaviours in a relational context and recognise the differences between controlling behaviour and a healthy relationship.

The Home Office have launched two different campaigns over the last couple of years; Teenage Relationship Abuse and Teenage Rape Prevention. Both of these campaigns are targeted at young people and its purpose is to prevent teenagers from becoming victims and perpetrators of abusive relationships. Some of the content from these campaigns is included in this resource.

Please read through this pack and familiarise yourselves with the material and messages. At the beginning of the lesson please advise students who they can contact within and outside of the school for advice and support. It is strongly recommended that the Contacts list is handed out at the end of the lesson (see Appendix 2).

Click here to download the GHLL Teenage Relationship Abuse resource.