Young Person’s Independent Dometic Violence Adviser Service (YPDVA)
Young Person’s Independent Dometic Violence Adviser Service (YPDVA)

How the Young Person's Domestic Violence Advice Service will work for you...

Our YPDVA service supports young people (aged 16-19)

Our YPDVA service supports young people (aged 16-19) who:

  • Are experiencing domestic abuse in their own relationships or from family members
  • Have been identified as high risk and referred to MARAC
  • Need support to understand their options and stay safe

Referrals are usually made through professionals such as police, social care, schools or health services as part of the MARAC process.

How We Support

We understand that abuse in young people’s lives can be complex — whether in relationships, within the family, or both. Our role is to make sure you are supported, heard and safer.

If you are referred to the service, a YPDVA will contact you safely.

If you choose to work with us, we will:

  • Meet with you one-to-one to understand your situation
  • Talk through your options in a clear and supportive way
  • Work with you to create a safety and support plan
  • Keep in regular contact as things change

Your YPDVA will be your single point of contact for you and for all other agencies helping to coordinate support and improve your safety.

How We Support
You can get help with

You can get help with:

  • Risk assessment and risk management
  • Safety planning
  • Initial crisis support, including information about your options
  • Referrals to other local services
  • Support with specialist issues, including forced marriage
  • Support throughout the criminal justice process

Advocacy and MARAC

Your YPDVA will work on your behalf with other services involved in your safety.

This may include:

  • Speaking with police, social care, housing and education services
  • Representing your views at MARAC meetings
  • Keeping you informed about what is being discussed and agreed
  • Making sure your voice is heard in decisions that affect you

You do not need to manage this process on your own - support is available and you are always in control of what you share and the decisions you make.

Advocacy and MARAC

Frequently Asked Questions

The YPDVA can support and advise you both emotionally and practically, we will be with your every step of the way offering you advice and guidance. We will complete Safety planning with you, target hardening for your property, court support, assistance with police, help and advice with civil orders if you do not want to report to the police. Liaising with partner agencies, help with housing and referral to refuge.

We Support you through the MARAC process and make sure your thoughts, feeling and views are represented.

MARAC is a multi-agency risk assessment conference, where a group of professionals work together to reduce the risk and safeguard you and your children. When your case is heard at MARAC you are deemed as high risk.

Your partner will not know you have asked us for support. Our service is strictly confidential and you will talk to a trained member of the team. The risk will be assessed and code words can be set up between yourself and your allocated worker so if your worker makes contact and you use the code, they will know that your partner is with you and cannot speak.

Clare’s law is a scheme allowing police to disclose details of an abusive partner’s history of domestic abuse to their current partner.

Clare’s law has two main elements:

The ‘Right to Ask’ which allows members of the public, who may be a target of violence or abuse to request and receive information from the police a person’s history.

The ‘Right to Know’ which allows police to inform a potential victim on their own initiative.

There are orders in place to protect you from an abusive partner.

A restraining order is a court order which stops your abuser from contacting you directly or indirectly or attending your place of work or home address, breaching this order is criminal offence. A restraining order is commonly used when there have been criminal proceedings against a person.

A Non-Molestation Order is an injunction that you have to apply for if you want to be protected from your partner or ex-partner from using or threatening violence against you, intimidating or harassing you. If this is breached, it comes with a power of arrest.

You can apply for an Occupation Order if you’re the victim of domestic abuse. The order will say who can live in the family home, who has the right to stay or who can be excluded from the home. Who can and cannot enter the surrounding area of the property.

Want to talk to us?

There are several ways you can contact us here at Endeavour. You can telephone Monday – Friday, 9.30am – 5.00pm

Tel: 01204 394 842
Email: info@endeavourproject.org.uk

Via Facebook messager service:
www.facebook.com/EndeavourDAV/

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