Audience:

Local Authority Social Work Practitioners.

Aim of the Workshop:

This training is on the provision of financial support and/or accommodation for families with NRPF under section 17 Children Act 1989, with a specific focus on those experiencing or at risk of domestic abuse. It enables workers to better support survivors facing destitution because they have no legal right to work, claim benefits or access social housing in the UK.

Outcomes:

• The ability to distinguish between different immigration statuses and the rights and restrictions they confer.
• An understanding of what domestic abuse is and how it affects those with NRPF in particular.
• The ability to identify whether a local authority has the power to provide financial support and/or accommodation.
• An understanding of the additional vulnerabilities and barriers that people with NRPF who are also experiencing or at risk of domestic abuse face.
• An understanding of the current legal framework.
• An understanding of the procedure and assessments involved in accessing support.
• An understanding of the other services available to migrants with NRPF, in particular the MVDAC and other areas of support for survivors of domestic abuse.

Course Content:

The training covers the following areas:

• Understanding ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF).
• Identifying immigration status, entitlements, and barriers to accessing immigration advice.
• Disclosures of domestic abuse.
• Support for families: section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
• Barriers to accessing section 17 support.
• Child in need assessments and human rights assessments.
• Children in need as a result of domestic abuse.
• Reviewing section 17 support.
• Access to other services (including services specific to survivors of domestic abuse).

Course Structure:

A guided tree of life exercise, polls, two case studies, break-out room activities, a role play and lots of Q&A’s and points for discussion. Please have a pen/pencil and paper for the tree of life activity.

There are two 10 minute breaks, morning and afternoon with a half hour lunch approx.12:45pm. The session will conclude at 15:30 with additional 15 minutes if required for Q&A.

Course Facilitators:

Leah Cowan, Advisor, is a member of Project 17’s Advice team. She also works on capacity-building and develops and delivers trainings for professionals. Leah previously worked in policy and communications at Imkaan, a Black feminist organisation dedicated to addressing gender-based violence. She has also coordinated a group working in solidarity with people held in immigration detention. Leah is also a writer and editor, and in 2021 published her first book with Pluto Press about Britain’s border regime.

Maria Danciu joined Project 17 in May 2021. She is an Advisor and is also part of the capacity building team, delivering training and providing advice to other organisations. She trained as a social worker in Romania and has been working in the charity sector in the UK since 2014 in the fields of international child protection and de-institutionalisation. She has an MA in Child Studies from King’s College, London.

For further enquiries please contact Anna Anderson at SMP@emcouncils.gov.uk