Violence Affecting Young People, ‘Gangs’ and Criminal Exploitation
Safeguarding Children Practice Reviews Nicky has authored a number of Rapid Reviews, Cross Border Learning Reviews and Safeguarding Children Practice Reviews (formerly Serious Case Reviews) following the tragic deaths of children and young people through violence, often linked to Child Criminal Exploitation. Many of these are not in the public domain but here is a previous review following the high profile murder of a child in the London Borough of Newham.
Tackling Child Exploitation (TCE) Nicky was a delivery partner throughout the Department for Education funded TCE programme. She was part of several area based projects to support safeguarding partnerships to strengthen their responses to exploitation and authored reflective questions for strategic leaders to consider when hearing young people’s voices.
‘Gang Exit*’ and Risk Management Nicky led the work of Safer London aimed at reducing gang related risk and providing pathways out of gangs, including the Safe & Secure programme. She developed robust practice models for high quality, evidence based support as well as co-ordinating the local delivery of risk management plans across 18 London boroughs, including working closely with partners in housing, community safety, police and a range of voluntary and community sector support providers including St Giles Trust.
Supporting Girls and Young Women Affected by Violence and Exploitation Nicky led on developing safeguarding policy and practice for specialist organisation Abianda before taking on the interim role of Head of Services.
* The term ‘gangs’ is used as this describes the focus of that work. It is recognised that gang is a contentious term that has racial and class implications that don’t align with Nicky’s values and understanding of this nuanced issue.
Youth Voice and
Co-Production
Nicky has been passionate about youth involvement, youth voice and co-production since focusing her 2002 undergraduate dissertation on young people’s perspectives on participation. Since then Nicky has led on a range of participation and co-production projects and programmes including involving young people in Local Authority commissioning, co-developing and delivering safeguarding training with young people, leading the Young Dads Collective and supporting peer research by girls and young women at Milk Honey Bees.
Nicky has published co-authored writing on youth voice in decision making in Safeguarding Young People: Risk Rights Resilience and Relationships edited by Dez Holmes.
Improving Policing Responses to Children and Young Adults
Nicky has positively engaged with policing in a number of commissioned, salaried and voluntary roles to offer both challenge and support to improve responses to children. This includes being a Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme (VKPP) Cadre Member involving independent reviews of police forces across the country on issues such as missing children. Nicky has NVVP2 vetting from the Met Police.
Housing & Youth Homelessness
16/17 Year Old Homelessness Nicky spent several years as a housing adviser for young people and was heavily involved in developing and leading on the implementation of a bespoke multi-disciplinary housing team in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. She has also supported a dedicated social work team working to prevent 16/17 year old homelessness following the Southwark Ruling in 2009, which had a measurable impact on homelessness prevention.
Pan-London Reciprocal Agreement Nicky was the lead for the Pan-London Reciprocal Agreement for over 3 years, working closely with all 32 London boroughs, the five London housing sub regions, the g15 and the Deputy Mayor for Housing to create safe pathways for those fleeing gang related violence to relocate whilst retaining their tenancies. This model won the London Housing Foundation London Homelessness Award in 2018.