London Child House
Project start date: February 2019
The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime And NHS England (London Region) were awarded up to £554,500 to contribute to our London Child House pilot. This will improve support for children and young people who have been sexually abused or exploited by bringing services together under one roof; a “child house”.
Project Summary
MOPAC and NHS England (London Region) are leading the development of a pilot ‘Child House’ in London. The service will provide support to children and young people who have been a victim of child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation as well their non-offending families and carers. The Child House will be based on a model of international best practice, bringing together medical, investigative and therapeutic services ‘under one roof’, alongside support for child victims to progress more rapidly through the criminal justice and court process.
The pilot seeks the following outcomes:
- Improved referral pathways into and out of the Child House;
- Improved children, young people, family and carer experience of support received post disclosure;
- Improved children and young people experience of the criminal justice process post disclosure;
- Improved mental health and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people;
- Improved professionals awareness, competence and confidence in working with Child Sexual Abuse/Child Sexual Exploitation;
- Increased likelihood for children and young people who received a Child House service to have cases charged by the Crown Prosecution Service;
- Increased likelihood for children and young people who received a Child House service to have their case end in conviction; and
- Improved partnership working.
This service will be the first of its kind in the UK and will be based in Camden, supporting children and young people across the North Central sector of London. It is expected that the Child House will support approximately 700 children and young people in North Central London per year.
Funding from the Department for Education Social Care Innovation Fund is specifically being used to:
- Ensure effective links between social care and the Child House;
- Create a plan to ensure the multiplicity of interagency links and funding arrangements are manageable and sustainable going forward; and
- Establish a learning strategy/toolkit to support scaling of the Child House model in the UK.
