Children’s Services Response to Coercive Control

Children’s Services Response to Coercive Control
Survey 1 – Victims’ experience of Children’s Social Care in England

If you and your children have been/are victims of coercive control domestic abuse AND have had involvement of local authority Children’s Social Care, please complete this survey anonymously. The survey is intended to be anonymous and all efforts have been made to ensure anonymity. The responses to the survey are automatically anonymized and aggregated in a manner neither allowing for the identification of individual respondents nor for the attribution of individual responses to a respondent.
For the purposes of this survey we use the terminology of 'coercive control' for ease of use. We understand this type of domestic abuse as that defined in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and the Serious Crime Act 2015. We understand it to include such behaviours as set out in Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance Framework April 2023: "...the conduct is ongoing and perpetrators will use various means to hurt, humiliate, intimidate, exploit, isolate and dominate their victims".
1. Which gender do you identify with?

FemaleMaleNon-binaryTransgenderPrefer not to say
2. What is your age group?

16-1920-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465-7475+
3. When were Children’s Social Care involved with your family?

They are currentlyWithin the last yearWithin the last 2/3 yearsWithin the last 4/5 yearsMore than 5 years ago
4. Which level of Children’s Social Care have been involved? (Select all that apply)

Universal servicesEarly help/preventionChild in needChild ProtectionLooked after childrenOther
Other, please comment
5. Which Local Authority (LA) applies?
6. Who initially disclosed the coercive control to Children’s Social Care?

MeMy child/childrenFamily/friendDA service/IDVAMedical professionalEducation professionalPoliceOther
Other, please comment
7. Was coercive control identified and acknowledged by Children’s Social Care?

YesNo
8. Were children identified as victims in their own right?

YesNoNot sure
9. After identification of coercive control what response did you receive from Children’s Social Care? (Select all that apply)

Risk assessmentSafety planningReferral to MARACSignposting to DA serviceReferral to DA serviceNone of the aboveOther
Other, please comment
10. Was the coercive control documented on Children’s Social Care records?

NoNot sureYes, in case recordsYes, in reportsYes, in child and family assessmentsOther
Other, please comment
11. What types of evidence of coercive control did they consider and/or use?

IDVA/DA servicePolice logs/reportsAdult victim testimony and/or documentsWitness testimony and/or documentsChild victim testimonyPractitioner observationsNoneOther
Other, please comment

12. Do you feel the lead social worker on your case had any of the following:

	Strongly agree	Agree	Neither agree or disagree	Disagree	Strongly disagree
Specialist knowledge/expertise in coercive control
Understanding of the impacts of coercive control on adults
Understanding of the impacts of coercive control on children
Skills in risk assessing for coercive control
Ability to distinguish and differentiate between domestic abuse and ‘parental conflict’
Focus on support and recovery for victims

13. Did you have the same social worker throughout Children’s Social Care involvement?

Yes, only 1 social workerNo, 1-2 social workersNo, 3-4 Social workersNo, 5 or more social workersOther
Other, please comment
14. In your opinion, did Children’s Social Care adequately and accurately assess risks to child and adult victims of coercive control in your family?

YesNo
Please add comments below
15. Were any risk assessments for coercive control completed by Children’s Social Care during the relationship and/or post-separation? (Select all that apply)

Child victims - during relationshipChild victims - post-separationAdult victims - during relationshipAdult victims - post-separationThe perpetrator - during relationshipThe perpetrator - post-separationNone
16. What risk assessment tools were used to assess for risks of coercive control?

DASH risk assessmentCAFCASS toolBarnardo’s Risk Identification MatrixNoneOther
Other, please comment
17. If a child and family assessment (or equivalent) was completed for your family, did it a) explore the risks and impacts of coercive control?

YesNo
b) describe the behaviours of the perpetrator?

YesNo
18. What safety planning was completed for your family in response to the coercive control? (Select all that apply)

Safety plan for child victim/sSafety plan for adult victimPerpetrator programmeNoneOther
Other, please comment
19. Do you feel the perpetrator was held accountable for their coercive control domestic abuse by Children’s Social Care?

YesNo
Please add comments below
20. Did Children’s Social Care work collaboratively as multi-agency partners with your IDVA/ DA support service?

Yes, they were fully includedYes, with limited inputNo, they were excluded
Please add comments below

21. Did you experience any of the following from Children’s Social Care?

	Always	Very often	Sometimes	Rarely	Never
Disclosure of coercive control was ignored, dismissed or denied
Safeguarding of children from coercive control was ignored, dismissed or denied
Attitudes of victim-blaming, bias or inequality
Relabelling victim as abuser (DARVO)

22. Did Children’s Social Care actively and openly follow the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and its statutory guidance?

YesNoNot sure
23. Did Children’s Social Care request and use specialist support from a specialist with expertise in coercive control?

YesNo
24. Finally, do you feel your local Children’s Social Care were equipped to adequately respond to the risk posed to you of coercive control domestic abuse in your family?

YesNo
Please add comments below
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Children’s Services Response to Coercive Control

Survey 1 – Victims’ experience of Children’s Social Care in England