In October 2015, I started a new role with Northumberland Domestic Abuse Services. My challenge was to develop a countywide children domestic abuse service. I knew I had been given an amazing opportunity and aspired to create a service that facilitated real opportunities to make positive changes within people’s lives. This was something I couldn’t do on my own; I decided, as it was children service the best people to advise on service provision, were children and young people. I was proved completely right.
The CADAN project has been framed and named by young people - Ideas were collected and collated by a participation group of young people, they asked children, young people, parents, and professionals what a children’s domestic abuse service should offer. I had to believe in myself as much as I believed in them that together we could make this happen. From their research the young people gift wrapped me the design, recommendations and a wealth of ideas to take forward.
The children service was launched in April 2016. It was the young people’s innovativeness and vision, that shaped the CADAN project services. Their resourcefulness and ideas for creative use of film, drama, dance to raise awareness of unhealthy relationships, domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, coercive control have been brought to life over the last 18 months and The CADAN project has continued to grow. Successful funding has secured three-part time children’s domestic abuse practitioners posts enabling us to provide direct support for families, children and young people who have lived through abuse. Also a new full-time prevention post has enabled us to continue raising awareness of domestic abuse, using real life scenarios in schools and the community. The CADAN project is now a multi award-winning service, driven by a strong team of passionate, highly motivated skilled professionals who all share an aspiration to make a real positive difference to children, families and young people’s lives
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