From Green Shoots to Systemic Change: A Two-Year Journey of the London Partnership and Safe & Together
By David Mandel, CEO and Founder, Safe & Together Institute
The Safe & Together London Partnership, a collaboration between the Safe & Together Institute, Respect, a number of London boroughs, and London Metropolitan University, took on an ambitious challenge: transforming how children’s social care responds to domestic abuse across multiple London boroughs. What started as an eight-month project expanded into two years of dedicated work to making the shift from holding victims responsible for safety to engaging with perpetrators and supporting survivors.
Year 1: Early Enthusiasm and Foundation Building
The project launched with what staff called “a surge of enthusiasm,” particularly from practitioners who found it addressed a fundamental challenge. As one implementation manager reflected: "I can’t believe that we practiced like we did before. It just seems ludicrous, the whole thing about mum… it’s like putting it all on the victim. ‘You go there, you’ve got to go to this service.’ I can’t believe that we practiced like it before. I think it’s amazing.”
Key achievements included:
Strong buy-in from social workers who found the approach addressed a core “social work dilemma”
Successful training rollout despite COVID challenges
Implementation leads becoming crucial champions
Early signs of positive change in case documentation
Development of a “marketplace” to expand behavior change options
Year 2: Growing Impact and Deeper Implementation
By the second year, practitioners were actively implementing changes with tangible results. As one social worker described: “I felt that using the questionnaires from Safe & Together and also the mapping tool to actually draw together all the issues that impact on the family functioning… that made me much more confident to engage the perpetrator and he owned up. He owned up for his actions!”
Key developments included:
Training continuing to resonate deeply
Implementation leads evolving from introduction to embedding the model contextually
The marketplace becoming active and filling crucial service gaps
Professional hub establishment as a sustainable resource
Evidence of systems change through quality assurance practices
Increased perpetrator complaints suggesting accountability was taking hold
Supporting Sustainable Change in London
The Respect implementation leads proved crucial for supporting this transition. As one social worker noted: “This is actually the best consultation I have ever had at work. I have been a social worker for eight years, and you’re like an angel coming down to me and saying all the things I’ve always thought about DV practice.”
The project faced ongoing challenges, particularly around funding uncertainty. As one staff member explained: “Even if we bid and get that funding to continue this project, we’re not going to know about that until the last day of everyone’s contracts by which time they will be gone. No one is going to wait to see if that happens.”
Despite these constraints, the team maintained focus on long-term change. As one staff member said: “It’s meant to be slow; it’s meant to be these long, difficult conversations with space for reflection and still some challenge because it’s an embedded culture of practice; it’s not possible to change that in a year.”
What’s especially notable is how the project moved beyond “just another training” to create sustainable change. By year two, there was clear evidence of shifts in practice, language, and systematic approaches to domestic abuse cases. As one implementation lead noted simply but powerfully: “You can’t do it on your own; you need scaffolding.”
The journey demonstrates how dedicated professionals, given the right framework and support, can begin transforming entrenched practices—even within challenging timeframes and contexts. While complete systems transformation requires more time, the foundation has been laid for continued positive change in how social care responds to domestic abuse.