Health and social work services

Tender description

The Child House Pilot Programme is a joint project between NHS England (London Region) and the Mayor’sOffice for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and partially funded by the Home Office. The Child House aims to radically improve support to children, young people and their non-offending families following incidents of childsexual abuse including exploitation. In 2014/15, a review of child sexual abuse pathways was commissioned by NHS England (London region) andundertaken by experts from Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs). This showed that only 1 in 4 childrenwho have been abused come to the attention of statutory services. The child is then subjected to a prosecutionbased process with multiple police interviews. Many cases do not have enough evidence to proceed to trialand those that do can take up to 2 years before they reach court. Conviction rates are low leaving suspectedperpetrators free to re-offend. The Child House concept is simple and in line with best practice, the European PROMISE agreementand evidence from abroad, and aims to provide a service which is centred around the child. Rather thanthe child/ young person having no choice other than to go to numerous agencies and buildings to accessdifferent services, the Child House will provide support ‘under one roof’. The environment will be reflective of the circumstances with an emphasis on being safe, secure and focused around the needs of the child/young person. The purpose of the project is to evaluate whether the Child House model can be successfullyestablished in England and the pilot will be fully evaluated by MOPAC’s Evidence and Insight team. The Child House Pilot will be based from a site in Camden and serve the boroughs within the North Central London STP area (Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington). The building is being specificallyrefurbished for the Child House.