Early Help and Early Years Service, Rochdale Borough Council

Email: parenting@rochdale.gov.uk

Phone: 01706 924691

THE AGENCY Rochdale Council is delivering Break4Change Child to Parent Violence & Abuse group programme provision via their Early Help Service in collaboration with Youth Service, Family Support, Youth Justice Service and No Wrong Door.

CRITERIA Catchment area is Rochdale Borough Council.

Age limit: 11 - 16

There must be ongoing abuse or violence from young person towards parent/carer within the last six months. The programme is for both parent/carer and young person. Participation is voluntary and consent is required from the young person and parent/carer. The programme is for families who acknowledge and understand that the abuse needs to stop. It is essential that the right support is in place for families engaging with this level of support. There is a requirement for families to have a current family plan in place (TAF/CIN/CP) that will continue and be monitored for the duration of the programme.

REFERRAL / ASSESSMENT Referrals are to be made via professionals involved in the families support plan. For further information and to request a referral form contact parenting@rochdale.gov.uk Assessments are completed with parent/carer and young person as part of the allocation process.

THE SERVICE Break4Change is designed to address young people’s violence and abuse towards parents/carers. The aim of B4C is for young people to stop the violence and abuse toward their family and develop respectful family relationships so that all members feel safe at home. It is a skills-based, restorative practice group intervention for young people and their parents/carers focusing on non-violence and mutual respect between family members. The B4C model uses parallel groups for young people and parents/carers. - Young people’s group – provides educational and therapeutic sessions together with a creative aspect so that each young person is able to revisit and process their learning from the sessions enabling quiet reflection. - Parent’s group – allows them to explore their approaches to parenting, understand the scale of the abuse and the effects, facilitates peer support and a chance to share experiences with other parents who often report feeling isolated prior to support. - The programme uses a filming element to enable a unique, restorative filmed dialogue between young person and parent within the group setting. This is a powerful element of the process and gives both the opportunity to say how they feel and what they want to change without being interrupted or challenged.

EVALUATION Break4Change is part of a Daphne European Union funded project - Responding to Child to Parent Violence. The programme is an action research project working with Bulgaria, England, Ireland, Spain and Sweden to develop an evaluation framework. Evaluation has been undertaken University of Brighton and University of Valencia along with local evaluation of our Rochdale programme offer.

Data entered: June 2021