Project delivering Respect’s Young People’s Programme sees impressive results

In September 2021, YMCA Trinity Group’s “Family Respect Project” was commissioned by Cambridgeshire PCC to deliver Respect’s Young People’s Programme (RYPP), which supports families experiencing child/adolescent to parent violence/abuse (CAPVA). The project has been part of an ongoing study which has shown early signs of its effectiveness.

Using 15 families as a sample, the research sought to identify whether the programme was effective in reducing police call outs to CAPVA incidents following each family’s completion of the intervention.   

The study not only identified a significant reduction in police call outs, but also identified changes in other patterns of behaviour for the young people who had engaged with the RYPP work. Of the sample, there was a 100% reduction in police call outs within 14 of the families, and a 92% reduction within one family who had contacted the police over 66 times for help prior to the RYPP intervention. This reduction in police call outs has so far amounted to an overall saving of £325,000 to the criminal justice system.

Of course, a reduction in police call outs does not in itself equate to evidence of behaviour change, but there was also a 100% cessation in ‘reported missing’ incidents for the young people who had completed the programme. Three of the young people who had previously had regular missing incidents were known to Operation Makesafe, the Metropolitan Police partnership response to Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation. The cessation of missing incidents for these young people may suggest a link between the programme and reduced levels of exploitation from organised crime gangs.

This project will run until the end of the March 2023 and there are a number of other outcomes being measured which will be reported on as the project progresses.