Family Support Agency Annual Report 2012

Pavee Point Travellers’ Centre

Annual Report 2012 to the Family Support Agency

0 | P a g e

Contents

Page

Role and Work of Pavee Point as a Specialist Support Agency

2

Support and develop the capacity of FRCs to work with Travellers and local Traveller organisations in partnership.

3

Addressing Violence against Women

4

Relationships and Sexual Education

5

Traveller Family and Older Travellers

5

Information systems and communication

6

Addressing Drugs and Substance Abuse

6

Raising awareness of issues facing Roma

8

Conclusion and outlook for 2013

8

Appendices

1 | P a g e

10

Role and Work of Pavee Point as a Specialist Support Agency The overall aim of Pavee Pont’s work as a Specialist Support Agency is the appropriate inclusion of Travellers and the Traveller agenda in the focus and work of the Family Support Agency, the Family Resource Centres and other societal initiatives. This work is carried out with the application of a community development approach. Our role has taken on a number of objectives in achieving equality and rights for Travellers and Roma. The work of Pavee Point has always been based on developing a national strategy to support the emergence and development of Traveller groups and to clearly place the link between national policy development and local and regional implementation of those policies in Ireland and abroad.

We have always worked in an innovative manner and during 2012 we used this experience to enhance our work. Our innovative approach and initiatives mean we have experience in working in all of the following areas:•

Addressing the needs of Traveller men, women and children

•

Responding to the needs of the Roma community in Ireland

•

Promoting the inclusion of Traveller families in the community

•

Assessing and promoting the needs of older Travellers

•

Responding to the growing incidence of suicide among the Traveller community.

•

Addressing the emergence of a drugs crisis within the community and developing appropriate responses

•

Addressing the issue of Violence against Women,

•

Responding to Traveller education needs, both formal and informal

•

Exploring the issue of relationship & sexual education within the Traveller Community and the attitudes of the community towards Lesbian Gay Bi-Sexual Transgender (LGBT) Travellers.

•

Promoting a community development approach to health issues.

Our experience of working at local, regional, and National level places us in a unique position to work with the Family Support Agency, Regional Support Agencies and Family Resource Centres to ensure that Travellers and Roma are included in all areas of their work.

Pavee Point recognises that Family Resource Centres have a key role to play in raising awareness and undertaking strategies to combat racism and other forms of exclusion that Travellers and Roma experience. We further recognise that they require resources, training and support to promote Traveller inclusion and human rights in Ireland. As a Specialist Support Agency working with Government and non government bodies, Pavee Point is well placed to fulfil this role.

2 | P a g e

Pavee Point brings a whole organisation approach to our work funded through the FSA, having this approach we have used the knowledge, expertise and capacity of various programmes within Pavee Point to maximise the work with FRCs. In the current environment where there are cutbacks in the Traveller infrastructure and the Community Sector, the role of Family Resource Centres can be significant and their ability and capacity to be inclusive of Travellers and Roma is of paramount concern. During 2012, Pavee Point provided the expertise, guidance and advice to both Regional Support Agencies and Family Resource Centres as they engaged with the Traveller and Roma Communities in the course of their work. Secondly, we worked to promote the creation of relationships between local Traveller organisations and local FRCs and to encourage an understanding of synergies and opportunities to work together between the two.

Support and develop the capacity of FRCs to work with Travellers and local Traveller organisations in partnership.

Pavee Point continued to engage directly with FRCs during 2012. Several FRCs were visited and advice and support given. Resources which would enhance their work were made available as requested i.e. Traveller specific health posters and drug information leaflets.

During 2012, meetings were held with Regional Support Agencies, Framework and West Training. It was agreed that we would continue during 2012 to communicate with Framework and update them on any relevant initiatives. In relation to West Training, it was also agreed to continue with joint communication and to establish links on both web sites. In addition, a full days training was organised with West Training for June 2012. This training looked at the results of ‘Our Geels’ – The All Ireland Traveller Health Study 2010 and how strategically FRCs could include Travellers and Roma in their new strategic work plans.

Through our work with West Training we received contact details of clusters of FRCs that work on specific themes such as older people, mental health and men. Initial contact was made with these clusters to see if they were interested in linking with ourselves. To date we have not received any response but we are following up with these clusters.

Our information team contacted all FRCs by e.mail and through our specific FRC web site invited them to organise a coffee morning for Travellers as part of Traveller Pride Week 2012. A flyer promoting the coffee morning was designed and disseminated to FRCs. Several FRCs availed of this opportunity and resources were distributed to them.

3 | P a g e

Addressing Violence against Women Pavee Point’s Violence against Women Programme(VAW) aims to support the Traveller community address the issues of domestic and sexual violence. They work to raise awareness of the issues by providing education and training workshops for Traveller organisations and developing culturally appropriate training and information materials. The VAW programme also works with service providers and policy makers to address the specific issues and barriers for Traveller women in seeking help to deal with domestic abuse and to ensure Traveller needs are included in policy and service development.

In 2012, the VAW programme worked to support the Family Resource Centres in their work with Traveller women experiencing domestic and sexual violence by firstly disseminating information, training and support material which deal with the issues of gender-based violence and Traveller women. Material which has been disseminated to all family resource centres in 2012 included: •

‘Travellers and Roma Speak Out on Domestic and Sexual Violence’ training DVD, which address the particular barriers that Traveller and Roma women may face and includes a number of recommendations for service providers to work to ensure access and equality of outcome for Traveller and Roma women.

•

‘Guidelines for Services Working with Traveller Women Experiencing Domestic Abuse,’ which provides a brief on the social and cultural context for many Traveller women and details specific recommendations for services working on the issues of domestic and sexual violence in order to ensure service provision is more inclusive of Traveller women.

•

‘Barring & Safety Orders: What Steps to Take’ – a guide developed by Traveller women, which provides accessible information on domestic violence orders and how to access them. The leaflet also works to deliver the key message that domestic violence is a crime; to build up further trust of the legal system as a means of protection against domestic violence and to provide information on key supports available.

We are currently finalising a brief on key considerations when ‘safety planning’ with Traveller women and key considerations with regard to sexual violence and the Traveller and Roma communities, which will be made available to services on request, including Family Resource Centres.

We also offered a full day’s training to service providers, including refuges and local domestic violence and family support centres on best practice when working directly with Traveller and Roma women experiencing domestic violence. This work will continue in 2013 and will also help to build relationships at the local level between Traveller organisations and support services and Family Resource Centres. Support and information is available to individual Family Resources Centres on specific issues for Traveller women 4 | P a g e

facing domestic abuse and a number of FRCs availed of this service in 2012. Work was also undertaken with Primary Health Care for Traveller Projects to raise their awareness of the resources available through FRCs.

Relationships and Sexual Education Following on from the development of our position paper ‘A Pavee Perspective – Travellers’ Attitudes to Sexual Relationships and Sex Education,’ which documents the knowledge and views of young Travellers and parents and provides key information for the provision of relationship and sexual health education for the Traveller community. Pavee Point have developed and delivered a ‘Training for Trainers’ course on culturally appropriate relationship and sexual health education to Traveller organisations on a regional basis, incorporating personal development, awareness raising and skills development for participants and promoting Traveller ethnicity and gender equality. During 2013, this training will be available to FRCs which would be beneficial to any FRCs who run youth groups or after school groups.

Traveller Family and Older Travellers To celebrate the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, Pavee Point organised a 12 week intergenerational programme to bring Young and Older Travellers together to facilitate greater communication between the two generations. Our previous research ‘Auld Pavee Beoirs ‘n Glokes’ showed that many older Travellers felt that there was a loss of culture occurring through the generations, and they felt intimidated by the youth, as they could not identify with their modern ways, slang, education etc. Similarly, the younger Travellers felt that the older Travellers were always giving out about them regardless of what they do and so they don’t make attempts to communicate with them. This created a gap between the generations. The aim of the training was: • To facilitate greater communications, exchanging of views, beliefs, values and remove any feelings of hostility and fear between the different generations • To increase knowledge and understanding of Traveller culture across generations and its value to both Travellers and the general population • To give an opportunity for both the young and the older Travellers to see the value of each experience and development of greater respect for each other.

As part of the programme, a variety of projects were completed by the participants looking at issues such as: education, discrimination, women, family tree and Traveller life stories.

5 | P a g e

A show case event has been organised for 12th December 2012 at which projects will be exhibited and presented. The FSA, Regional Support Agencies, FRCs and a variety of statutory and voluntary organisations have been invited to this event. In 2013, the learning from this programme along with a book of Traveller stories will be disseminated to all FRCs. These will provide ideas and models of best practise for FRCs who wants to engage in an active and meaningful way with Traveller families.

Information systems and communication Three FRC specific e.bulletins were sent to all FRCs highlighting issues such as The Traveller Family and Issues for Travellers. FRCs were also included in our general mailing list and received four e.bulletins during the year. In addition to this information of direct interest to FRCs was uploaded onto our FRCs dedicated web page.

Towards the end of 2012 we re-developed the Pavee Point website which includes the dedicated FRC website section. This development will ensure that the web-site is more user friendly, accessible and that the capacity is increased to share information and communication with the FSA, the Regional Support Agencies and the FRCs. The objective of the website vis-à-vis the Family Resource Centre programme is to ensure that information on the full spectrum of Traveller issues, is available both in the main site and in the dedicated FRC Website Section, which is accessible with one click from the home page.

We expanded the pilot mapping exercise to include the LDCs and Primary Health Care for Traveller Projects nationally. Our next step is to input the location of all Primary Care Teams when this information is available from the HSE. The idea of extending pilot is to broaden the accessibility and make it more useful to our users specifically FRCs. Subsequently, through all our networks, LCDP, Drugs Network and National Traveller Health Network this information was shared and the members encouraged to use it thus increasing their knowledge on the location of FRCs. To further the development we have secured ArcGIS mapping application. This will be put into use from 2013 and will make the mapping more interactive and user friendly.

Addressing Drugs and Substance Abuse The Pavee Point Drugs Programme operates to establish and share best practice and information on the misuse of drugs within the Traveller community. The programme’s material is distributed within the Pavee Point e.Bulletins and within the Pavee Point website.

In addition, the programme prepares its own material on the issues with which it deals.

The programme prepared two Traveller specific e.bulletins highlighting the issue of substance misuse within the Traveller community which were sent to all FRCs. 6 | P a g e

The programme ran two seminars on specific drug misuse issues, to which FRCs were invited. At the request of our members, specific issues were addressed as part of these seminars. While there were no presentations from FRCs this year, FRCs were invited to attend and network at the seminars, and it was clear that representatives from some family support groups, hosted within FRCs, did attend events.

The Drugs Programme delivered training to one FRC which puts them in a position to increase compliance with Good Practice Guidelines for drug and alcohol services working Travellers – FRCs are in a position to recruit, retain and progress Travellers and their family members who attend seeking support as a result of addiction issues.

Family Resource Centres have direct access to a Traveller Peer Support Worker who can assist in all their dealings with Travellers attending their service with addiction issues and their family members. The Traveller Peer Support Worker is a member of the Traveller community who is in recovery and has successfully completed residential drugs treatment. In conjunction with a key worker the Traveller Peer Support Worker informs Travellers still in addiction or their family members, about the process of recovery and the options available from a Traveller point of view. With word of mouth being documented as the most commonly used form of referral to drug services, the availability of a Traveller Peer Support Worker is essential to the progression routes of Travellers. This initiative has proved so successful that during 2013, we will have three Traveller Peer Support Workers to continue the work and link with FRCs. On the 19th June 2012, Ireland’s first ever ‘Celebration of Recovery’ was held in Croke Park.

This event was organised by Pavee Points Drugs Programme, Coolmine Therapeutic Community and the GAA ASAP programme. The aim of the event was to highlight that people can enjoy themselves without alcohol and it was primarily targeted at those in recovery, those contemplating it and those who just wanted to take control of their drinking levels. Invitations were sent to all FRCs as well as all front line workers in drug and alcohol services. Over 400 people attended the event with some representation from FRCs. The event was deemed to be a great success by all who attended. Christy Moore, who was the headline act of the afternoon concert had the following to say ‘It was a great event. I was very happy to be part of such a positive event. Thank you.’ Photos of the day and other feedback comments are available on the website www.pavee.ie/theevent2012.

Towards the end of 2011, and at the beginning of 2012 Pavee Point Drugs programme conducted an additional needs assessment with FRCs. A questionnaire was designed, piloted and distributed to all FRCs, unfortunately, there was a very poor response rate to the needs assessment with only eight FRCs replying, this is an ongoing challenge in our work. During 2013 the Drugs Programme will endeavour to work with FRCs in order to identify any information or training gaps.

7 | P a g e

Raising awareness of issues facing Roma Pavee Point held a series of seminars throughout 2012. These have focused on issues facing Roma communities in Ireland including maternal and child health, child protection, education and the habitual residence condition. Seminars have been an opportunity for practitioners and service providers to meet directly with member of the Roma community. Seminars provided space to discuss issues facing Roma from their perspective, identify issues facing service providers and share experiences of good practice. Family Resource Centres were invited to these seminars and representatives did attend.

For Traveller Pride Week, the Roma Project screened the film ‘A People Uncounted – The Untold Story of the Roma’ in the Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin. This film explores the experiences of Roma throughout Europe over centuries. It provides an opportunity to increase understanding of the experiences of Roma in Europe in the past and present – and to pose the questions of how Roma are treated in Ireland today and what needs to change. This was attended by some FRC representatives. Following on from this, St. Kevin’s FRC screened the film locally. This was screened for over 20 participants with a facilitated discussion afterwards. St. Kevin’s reported good feedback from the evaluation. Pavee Point will be doing a follow up information session in 2013 with St. Kevin’s. West Training and Development Ltd also screened the DVD for staff in December 2012. All FRCs have been invited to screen this film in their areas as a way of increasing awareness of Roma rights.

We have provided information packs to all FRCs, giving information on the experience of Roma in Ireland. This included a copy of our summary report ‘Roma communities in Ireland and Child Protection Considerations.’ This gives an overview of some of the key issues facing Roma children in Ireland.

Planning work has also been undertaken to hold a series of regional seminars in 2013, which will provide information on issues facing Travellers and Roma in Ireland. These will be targeted at local service providers including FRCs and will be opportunity for participants to be fully updated on Traveller and Roma policy and practice.

Conclusion and outlook for 2013 A vast amount of information on Traveller issues and services was disseminated and made available to all FRCs during the year. In addition to this FRCs were invited to a number of network meetings and events which were organised by Pavee Point that would be of interest to them. Information and resources were made available upon request.

We also made the full use of our networks to provide them with up to date information on the work and location of FRCs.

8 | P a g e

The contact with the Regional Support Agencies has proved beneficial to all. The training provided to the staff of West Training on Traveller and Roma inclusion in strategic planning was of particular benefit to them. The training was appreciated by West Training and they proposed to use the learning from this training when developing strategic plans with FRCs. While the engagement between FRCs and the Traveller community is growing it still remains a challenge to get direct engagement with FRCs. The poor response to the needs assessment conducted by our Drugs Programme is a good example of this. However, during 2013 we will continue to pursue this engagement with FRCs and work creatively to identify new methods and initiatives, which we hope will prove successful.

As mentioned in our last annual report the financial constraints experienced across almost all sectors including the Community Development sector and Traveller organisations had a direct impact on the work and activities undertaken by all. These cutbacks to funding, services and a reduction in service levels to Travellers threaten to make the next year even more difficult and challenging. However, we believe that it is at time like these the services offered by the Family Resource Centres Programme is of even more importance to Travellers. With this in mind we feel that Pavee Point have a major role to play in working with the FSA and FRCs to ensure their programmes are inclusive of Travellers. It remains to be seen what the future holds for the Traveller and Roma Community in Ireland.

9 | P a g e

Appendices:

Appendix 1: Traveller and Roma Speak out on Domestic and Sexual Violence

Appendix 2:: ‘Guidelines for Services working with Travellers experiencing Domestic abuse’

Appendix 3: ‘Barring & Safety Orders: What steps to take’

Appendix 4: Copy of Needs assessment – Drugs Programme

Appendix 5: Summary report ‘Roma communities in Ireland & Child protection considerations’

10 | P a g e