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Help and info for young people
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Young people who have been through it
- Cedar - through the eyes of a bairn
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Young people who have been through it
Help and info for young people
In just the first year of a three-year pilot scheme, a project to support children experiencing domestic abuse has secured positive outcomes for 91 children and young people – as well as many of their mothers.
Scottish Women's Aid hosted its first ever Cedar (Children Experiencing Domestic Abuse Recovery) conference in Edinburgh on 4th June 2010, disseminating the findings of a report on the first year's progress. SWA also launched a short film, produced by the Media Co-op, to highlight the important work that is being done to help children, young people and their mothers rebuild their lives after domestic abuse.
Cedar – originally pioneered in Canada and since rolled out across London – is a programme that simultaneously supports children who have experienced domestic abuse and their mothers. Scottish Women’s Aid worked with partners in national and local government and Women’s Aid groups to bring Cedar to Scotland for the first time, as a means of addressing the damaging impact that abuse can have on children and young people.
“Cedar helped us to understand that quite a lot of people have domestic abuse in their lives: It wasn’t just happening to me.”
Findings from the initial evaluation show that the Cedar pilot in Scotland provides a range of support and benefits for children including: a greater knowledge of safety; strengthened relationships between mothers and children; changed attitudes to violence; reduction in feelings of shame or guilt relating to the abuse and helping them deal with their emotions towards abusive fathers.
Scottish Women’s Aid has worked in partnership with different local authorities and with the Scottish Government to adapt, develop and implement this project which is being tested for the first time in Scotland. The project has been funded on a pilot basis for 2008-2011 by the Scottish Government in three local government areas of Scotland: the City of Edinburgh, Fife and Forth Valley (Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire).
The evaluation findings also show that Cedar significantly contributes to achieving the aims of the Scottish Government’s national polices for children such as the Early Years Framework; Achieving our Potential; Equally Well and Additional Support for Learning.
The development and evaluation of the Cedar projects in Scotland is one of thirteen priorities identified in the National Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children & Young People.