A person at risk may contact the Local Authority rather than the police for a number of reasons.
They may not want to get their families into trouble. They may have arrived in Wolverhampton having left their home in another part of the country and not know how to access help. In these cases some basic rules should apply in line with the 'one chance rule':
Establish if there is any imminent danger, you may need to dial 999 on behalf of the person
Your conversation with the person should establish if police involvement is necessary
You may need to contact the police and request that they dispatch officers to the person. The person may not have money for transport or know how to get to the nearest police station
If a person is signposted to another support agency the same may apply. They may need direction and advice on how to access support networks
Complete CAADA DASH Risk Assessment
Do not attempt to mediate with the person's family or community members.
Do not breach confidentiality or share information inappropriately, unless due to safeguarding concerns for a child or adult at risk.
Domestic Violence Support Services will be familiar with working with women and men who are fleeing violence or in fear of violence and abuse from current and previous partners and wider family members. Forced Marriage and Honour Based Violence will have some additional complexities in relation to potential threats from the wider community. The Wolverhampton Domestic Violence Forum multi-agency Executive Board has developed a local Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and Action Plan (2012-15) The strategy follows the national template and addresses prevalence and multi-agency actions to address domestic violence, sexual violence, forced marriage, so-called ‘honour based violence’, and female genital mutilation. The Strategy can be accessed at www.wdvf.org.uk
Wolverhampton’s Overarching Domestic Violence Protocol, developed by the Domestic Violence Forum as one of the recommendations arising from the city’s first domestic homicide review, outlines minimum expectations for organisations and agencies. As forced marriage and honour based crimes are included under the definition of domestic violence, all of the protocol’s expectations apply equally in the context of forced marriage and honour based violence. Wolverhampton Domestic Violence Forum can assist organisations to put in place some of these elements:
a domestic violence policy for service users (that includes forced marriage)
a workplace domestic violence policy (that includes forced marriage)
include a routine question about domestic violence (and forced marriage) on service user referral forms
train staff in domestic violence (including forced marriage) to an appropriate level depending on their role