Racist harassment support projects

Racist harassment supportprojectsTheir role, impact and potential

Kusminder Chahal

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported this project as part of its programme of research andinnovative development projects, which it hopes will be of value to policy makers, practitioners and serviceusers. The facts presented and views expressed in this report are, however, those of the author and notnecessarily those of the Foundation.

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© University of Central Lancashire 2003

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Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Abbreviations used viii

Executive summary ix

1 Introduction 1Background 1Impact of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry 1Development of Race Action Net 2The current study 3Structure of the report 3

2 Racist harassment support projects 4Introduction 4Racial Awareness (RA) Helpline, Victim Support Powys, Wales 4INSAAF (Justice for Victims of Racist Harassment Project), Newcastle 5Racial Harassment Support Group (West) (RHSGW), Newcastle 6Leeds Racial Harassment Project (LRHP) 7Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Unit (BRAMU) 8Birmingham Partnership against Racial Harassment (BPARH) 9Support against Racist Incidents (SARI), Bristol 9Newham Monitoring Project (NMP), London 10Summary 11

3 Role of racist harassment support projects 12Introduction 12General 12Assistance and support 14Other activities 15Summary 18

4 Responding to racist harassment through casework 19Introduction 19Casework in practice 19Impact of casework 24Summary 26

5 Impact of racist harassment support projects 27Introduction 27Finding the support project 27Empowerment 28Improving the service 32Summary 34

6 Potential of racist harassment support projects 35Introduction 35Key features of support projects 35Strengthening the sector 36Building local coalitions of support 38

References 40

vi

In researching and writing this project, I have hadthe support and goodwill of a range of people. Iwant to thank all of the support projects, andparticularly the caseworkers, who agreed to takepart in this research. Thank you to all the clientsand ex-clients of the projects who agreed to beinterviewed and gave me their time and hospitality.

I want to thank my advisory group, particularlyGerard Lemos, Kulbir Shergil and Keith Kirby, fortheir advice and encouragement. This research wasoriginally developed while I was working with

Harris Beider at the Federation of Black HousingOrganisations. I am grateful for his and theFederation’s support over the years. I want tothank Professor Kamlesh Patel at the Centre forEthnicity and Health, University of CentralLancashire for giving me the time that was neededto complete this work. Finally, I am grateful for allthe help, advice and understanding that AlisonJarvis from Joseph Rowntree Foundation has giventhrough the period of my research.

Acknowledgements

vii

BNP British National PartyBPARH Birmingham Partnership against Racial HarassmentBRAMU Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring UnitDETR Department of the Environment, Transport and the RegionsINSAAF Justice for Victims of Racial Harassment, NewcastleJRF Joseph Rowntree FoundationLRHP Leeds Racial Harassment ProjectNASS National Asylum Support ServiceNLCP National Lotteries Charities BoardNMP Newham Monitoring Project, LondonRA Racial Awareness, PowysRHSGW Racial Harassment Support Group (West), NewcastleSARI Support against Racist Incidents, BristolODPM Office of the Deputy Prime MinisterSRB Single Regeneration Budget

Abbreviations used

viii

Background

The JRF (Joseph Rowntree Foundation) fundedreport ‘We Can’t all be White!’: Racist Victimisation in

the UK (Chahal and Julienne, 1999) broke newground in reflecting the experiences of victims andthe wide-ranging consequences of racist campaignsaimed at ordinary families. In listening to thenarratives of those who suffer racist victimisation,it was very clear that, by and large, people feltalone, vulnerable and cut off from familiarnetworks. People felt they had been given little orno practical or psychological support and so lookedto their own resources to manage and respond tothe racist victimisation they were experiencing.

The current research aimed to investigate therole, impact and potential of racist harassmentsupport projects. It sought to identify how effectivelocalised racist harassment support initiatives arein providing a support mechanism for victims ofracist harassment and to highlight the potential forthe development of such organisations.

The research process

Eight case study sites emerged through the periodof the research. Semi-structured interviews wereconducted with personnel from each case study siteand at every level of the organisation, and in-depthinterviews with 29 clients and ex-clients of theservice. Most case study sites also agreed for theresearcher to have access to case files and otherdocumentation relevant to the research. A one-dayworkshop was held with most caseworkersinvolved in the research to discuss the effectivenessof racist harassment casework and possible waysforward. The findings from this workshop areincorporated in the main report.

The role of support projects

The role of all the projects is to provide assistanceand support to victims of racist harassment.

Support against Racist Incidents (SARI) states veryclearly that it aims to ‘empower’ victims of racistharassment and attacks to ‘survive the emotional,mental and physical trauma they experience’(SARI, 1996). Although not all the projects are soexplicit about ‘empowerment’, their goal throughcasework is to ensure clients have full knowledgeof their rights and how they can progress acomplaint against an alleged perpetrator(s).

Most of the projects challenge racist harassmentthrough undertaking casework and representingclients, multi-agency liaison and preventative workthrough schools. Some projects concentrate more oftheir resources on casework while othersconcentrate on prevention and monitoring; othersoffer training to local agencies and developresources to be used by young people to raiseawareness on racism. The projects vary in the typeand range of work they get involved in.Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Unit(BRAMU) and Newham Monitoring Project (NMP)would clearly identify themselves as politicalagencies because of their historical developmentand campaigning against injustice and, forexample, deaths in custody. Single-officer projectscombine undertaking casework with a variety ofother roles.

Racist harassment casework

Racist harassment caseworkers viewed the primaryfunction of casework as ‘to deliver an agreed actionplan with the client(s)’. This involved ‘alleviatingthe distress and despair’ that clients felt throughdeveloping an advocacy-type relationship.

Casework was viewed as a multi-tasked andmulti-skilled intervention involving working withand supporting victims, undertakingadministrative duties in connection with processinga case and actively engaging with relevant agenciesto achieve a successful resolution of the reportedproblem. Four key tasks were identified as crucialto effective casework: offering help, creating an

Executive summary

ix


intervention, reducing the immediate impact of theharassment and aiming to resolve the complaint.

Casework presented a number of demands forthe workers. First, all caseworkers were working tofull capacity, with cases sometimes coming frombeyond their geographical remit; they wereworking on short-term contracts with regularfunding crises, often with very little or no support,usually in unsuitable offices, with a variety ofclients who presented a range of complaints. A by-product of successful casework was the recognitionthat an increase in caseloads had directimplications on funding and staffing.

Casework undertaken by an independentsupport group was seen as having the impact of‘adding more weight to a complaint from a victim’and this had resulted in ‘other organisationsresponding to our service user needs moreeffectively.’

Impact of the project on victims

Clients and ex-clients expressed a number of waysthat a casework intervention impacted on them.The projects offered a non-judgemental approach tothe client that enabled them to tell their story anddecide on what they wanted to do with theircomplaint. The project provided a dedicated serviceand continuity of support to clients that waslacking from agencies. Agencies, by virtue of theirposition, often responded in a fragmented way tothe needs of victims. Support projects, however,have caseworkers whose primary role is to workwith victims of racist harassment – they representexclusively the client.

Support projects have learnt that they cannotalways solve the problem that clients may beexperiencing. But they can make their clients betteraware of their rights. Caseworkers help rebuildconfidence often shattered by the experience ofracist harassment and poor understanding byagencies about the impact of such negativeexperiences through offering emotional support,

listening and validating the client’s experience andafter-care.

Impact of the project in communities

Support projects through casework, school-basedactivities, local policy formation or providingtraining to agencies have had an impact in localcommunities beyond working with clients.However, they also recognised their role was tohelp facilitate local people and their clients to ventanger about racist harassment, and work with localcommunities to diffuse tensions and prevent anescalation of violence.

Some projects have seen more positiveengagement from the minority ethnic communityas a result of the work that both the projects andcaseworkers undertake. BRAMU, for example,mentioned that local people are more likely to referclients and participate in public meetings thatresult in a genuine partnership between thecommunity and the project as a result of casework.

Potential of the projects

Clients and ex-clients felt that limited funding andnot enough caseworkers hampered the potential ofprojects to do more work. Caseworkers, projectleaders and management committee membersagreed that funding was the most importantconcern and influenced how they worked anddeveloped their service. But they recognised otherpotential areas of improvement.

Racist harassment cases often come fromoutside of their geographical remit and this area ofwork could be expanded. However, there was anawareness of having to limit how far projects couldstretch casework to be able to manage the casesthey were receiving within existing resources.Projects felt that day-to-day working could besubstantially improved if partner agencies fullyrecognised the existence and impact of racistharassment on the lives of victims. Sharing of good

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Executive summary

practice and better co-ordination of cases throughmulti-agency working were also viewed as keyfactors in improving casework and offering a betterservice to people experiencing racist harassment.

Caseworkers want an accredited qualificationthat would acknowledge the skills inherent to theirwork and offer recognition within the social carefield. They also felt that more structured supportfor them was vital, both within a project andexternal to it, through accessing counselling ornetworking with other caseworkers. The emotionalimpact on caseworkers involved in undertakingcasework was often not recognised by managersand other colleagues within the project. Further,caseworkers wanted more opportunity to networkwith other caseworkers to be able to share anddevelop skills within the sector.

The projects are well positioned in theirlocalities to expand their work, for example, intoconflict resolution. Given that most racistharassment occurs in and around the home and islargely perpetrated by young people, there is aneed to undertake sustained work with localpeople to reduce prejudice and develop methods ofconflict resolution and familiar coalitions ofsupport for the clients of projects. Support projectsare well positioned to be involved and developthese functions in partnership with other agencies,local communities and their clients.

Conclusion

Racist harassment support projects provide a rangeof services to agencies, communities and victims ofracist harassment. Growth within their localitiesand their multi-tasked role has enabled projects tobecome indispensable in challenging racistoppression. The commitment of staff, volunteersand management committees to effect change

within their local area has to be set against regularfunding crises, particularly in funding caseworkers,poor office accommodation, minimumadministrative support, agency inertia andcasework overload.

The projects have grown out of a gap in bothservice provision for victims of racist harassmentand challenging the response and practice ofagencies. They have made a positive difference tothe quality of life of their clients, often being theonly agency that will listen to, respond to the needsof, and represent the client in processing acomplaint.

Given the importance and relevance of supportprojects to local community safety issues andcommunity cohesion, the provision of support tothe victims of racist harassment and the multi-agency work, it is vital to ensure adequate fundingfor the projects. This is particularly crucial to enablethem to maintain a core staff that are able toundertake casework. Often, it is the caseworkelement that is lost when funding is reduced or cutcompletely.

The caseworkers in the research said they wouldbenefit from a national network of caseworkers. Thenetwork would, for example, act as a co-ordinatingbody that responded to the effective developmentand setting of national standards of casework, act asa peer support for caseworkers, develop and offernew methods of working, disseminate nationalinformation on victims’ rights, develop accreditedtraining and courses for caseworkers, and lobby forbetter funding.

Effective local partnerships, long-term funding,the recognition of the needs of caseworkers and thepotential to develop community-based approachesto conflict resolution and victim support are keyareas of lobbying and development for racistharassment support projects.

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1

Background

Racist victimisation is well documented in terms ofits history (e.g. Fryer, 1984), its incidence andprevalence (Virdee, 1995), and the policy andpractice response across a variety of agencies(Home Office, 1989; Lemos, 2000). However, untilrecently, the level of knowledge about the impactand consequences of racist victimisation was at bestpoorly documented and at worst ignored.Although references were made to the consequenceof racist harassment on victims’ decision making ina variety of localised studies (CommunityConsultants, 1987; Chahal, 1992), there had been noextensive qualitative research undertaken toestablish the impact on people’s lives beyond theactual incident. The JRF funded report ‘We Can’t all

be White!’: Racist Victimisation in the UK (Chahal andJulienne, 1999) broke new ground in reflecting theexperiences of victims and the wide-rangingconsequences of racist campaigns aimed atordinary families across the country.

In listening to the narratives of those who sufferracist victimisation, it was very clear that, by andlarge, people felt alone, vulnerable and cut off fromfamiliar networks. They felt they had been givenlittle or no practical or psychological support.Against this backdrop, people looked to their ownresources to manage and respond to the racistvictimisation they were experiencing. The researchfurther noted that reporting an incident or series ofincidents resulted in victims being neither suppliedwith relevant information about what they coulddo nor signposted to relevant organisations. Itseemed that they were left alone to develop theirown routes to help and assistance.

Impact of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry

‘We Can’t all be White!’ (Chahal and Julienne, 1999)was published four months after the MacphersonInquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence(Macpherson, 1999). The Inquiry was an important

document with key recommendations for publicagencies to adopt. It found, among other things,that, while there were some examples ofdeveloping good practice, housing departmentswere too often seen to be slow and bureaucratic intheir response to racist behaviour (Macpherson,1999). In a policy response paper aimed atregistered social landlords, Williams (1999) askedwhether housing organisations’ (and indeed otherrelevant agencies’) performance within the servicesthey provided could be improved to ensure thatthey were more sensitive to the needs of victimsand their families. Williams further argued that theLawrence Inquiry showed that the response of staffto, and their understanding of, the impact of racismwas crucial to the type of service offered.

Response from the Home Office

As a direct consequence of recommendation 15 ofthe Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, the Home Officeissued a Code of Practice on Reporting and Recording

Racist Incidents (Home Office, 2000). The Code aimedto provide guidelines for local agencies to establisheffective procedures for the reporting and recordingof racist incidents (Home Office, 2000, p. 3).

The Code highlighted that victims of racistattacks should be treated in a sensitive andunderstanding manner. Among the good-practiceguidelines given for dealing with victims were thefollowing:

• The agency that has the first contact with thevictim or witness reporting a racist incidentshould respond in a sensitive way that showsan understanding of how victims of racistcrime may feel. Training should be providedfor those people who will make that firstcontact with victims.

• If the victim wants the case to be referred tothe police or another agency, this must bedone as soon as practical.

1 Introduction

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• A locally agreed protocol should ensure thatsomeone is responsible for keeping thevictim informed of progress, whether that isthe police, the agency that took the initialreport or another agency (Home Office, 2000,pp. 10–11).

Response from Victim Support

In its immediate response to the Stephen LawrenceInquiry, Victim Support established a WorkingParty to examine how, as an established serviceprovider, its service delivery could be made moreeffective. The review identified the followinginitiatives:

• develop a specialist service model for victimsof racist crimes

• an extension of the training programme tovolunteers to include diversity issues,recognising and providing a first response toracist crime

• a national recruitment campaign aimed atattracting volunteers from minority ethnicbackgrounds

• production of a new leaflet Supporting

Victims of Racist Crimes: Good Practice (VictimSupport, 2001), which has been translatedinto the most used minority languages.

However, both the Home Office and VictimSupport responses to racist crimes/victimisation failto mention the role played by, and the partnershipsthat could be formed with, community-based racistharassment support projects. This is despite thecontent of recommendation 30 of the StephenLawrence Inquiry which says:

That police services and Victim Support servicesshould ensure that their systems provide for the pro-active use of local contacts within minority ethniccommunities to assist with victim-support and withthe handling and interviewing of sensitive witnesses.(Macpherson, 1999, p. 330)

Development of Race Action Net

Racial Harassment: Action on the Ground (Lemos,2000) highlighted that support for victims is morelikely to be available in areas where there is aspecialist agency working on racist harassment.Support included the provision of advice,counselling, personal alarms and mobiletelephones, and home security improvements forsocial housing tenants.

Based on interviews with 250 agencies tacklingracial harassment in the 67 local authority areaswhere the majority of the UK’s minority ethnicpeople live, the study found that less than one-third of areas had a 24-hour helpline that couldgive advice to victims of racial harassment. Inmany other districts, the reporting lines wereanswered only during office hours, with ananswerphone taking messages at other times.Respondents stated that counselling was availablein a third of the areas. But few areas offered in-depth counselling by trained staff familiar withracial harassment. In most other areas, agencieswere ‘providing advice’ rather than offering‘counselling’.

The survey undertaken by Lemos & Crane(Lemos, 2000) highlighted innovative practice anddid describe the work of some independent,community-based racist harassment supportprojects. A website (www.raceactionnet.co.uk) wascreated as a means for sharing good practice inchallenging racist harassment.

Also, as a direct response to this work, DETR(now ODPM) produced a Code of Practice that setout action that all social landlords should take toprevent racial harassment (DETR, 2001) under thefollowing headings: working with other agencies;prevention and publicity; encouraging reporting;supporting victims and witnesses; and actionagainst perpetrators.

However, the Code failed to mention thepotential of working with independent racistharassment support groups where they existed.

3

Introduction

The current study

This study attempts to build on what has beenlearned from previous research about the impact,consequences and management of racistexperiences by victims. ‘We Can’t all be White!’

(Chahal and Julienne, 1999) clearly showed thatsupport from a variety of statutory and voluntaryagencies was at best ad hoc and unstructured, andat worst non-existent.

A study in Scotland (Clarke and Moody, 2002, p.59) confirms the broad findings from Chahal andJulienne (1999) about lack of support for victims. Itcomments that minority ethnic organisations wereconcerned about gaps in support services forvictims of racist crime, such as a lack of feedbackand support from statutory agencies, and barriersto accessing support services. A London-widereport on responses to racist harassment by theCity’s boroughs recognised that independentcommunity organisations have an important andlegitimate role to act as advocates for victims and tocampaign for local service improvements (Argent et

al., 2000, p. 60).It is evident from the information that exists on

racist victimisation that there is a lack ofknowledge about independent, community-basedorganisations and their work with victims andwider agencies. The current research aimed toinvestigate the role, impact and potential of racistharassment support projects. It sought to identifyhow effective localised racist harassment supportinitiatives are in providing a support mechanismfor victims of racist harassment and to highlight thepotential development of such organisations.

Eight case study sites emerged (Chapter 2)through the period of the research. The projectsaccessed reflected a mix of community and localauthority-based initiatives, and were chosen on thebasis of geographical spread, their own willingnessto participate and the following definitions:

• community-based project: project that has beendeveloped within a geographical communityor community of interest and involves localpeople (including clients and ex-clients of theservice) in the running and management ofthe service

• local authority project: a project that has beenestablished by a local authority and isaccountable to the structures of thatauthority.

Semi-structured interviews were conductedwith personnel from each case study site and atevery level of the organisation. This included allstaff, volunteers (where appropriate), managementcommittee members and in-depth interviews with29 clients and ex-clients of the service. In mostcases, the researcher was able to shadowcaseworkers and observe direct interventions withclients. Most case study sites also agreed for theresearcher to have access to case files and otherdocumentation relevant to the research.

A one-day workshop with most caseworkersinvolved in the research was held to discuss theeffectiveness of racist harassment casework andpossible ways forward. The findings from thisworkshop are incorporated in the main report.

Structure of the report

Chapter 2 provides detailed information about eachof the eight projects covered in the research. Thisinformation is gathered from various documentsand interviews held with project managers,caseworkers and observations. Chapter 3 offers aninsight into the work of the projects and Chapter 4concentrates specifically on the role of ‘casework’within them. Chapter 5 considers the impact of thesupport projects’ work. Finally, Chapter 6 reflectson the potential of the projects and offers a series ofpolicy and practice implications and insight intopossible new directions for the projects themselves.

4

Introduction

Racist harassment support projects have emergedover the previous 25 years across the country. Theearlier projects were born out of a community-based struggle against police harassment andintimidation but also against attacks from certainsections of the white community against minorityethnic communities. Racist murders in bothSouthall and Newham prompted the developmentof youth organisations and defence committees.

After the racist murder of Akhtar Ali Baig, whowas stabbed to death in broad daylight in Newhamin 1980, many local people demonstrated againstracist attacks and, from these protests, NMP wasformed (Newham Monitoring Project, 1991). NMPwas the first monitoring group of its kind to be setup. Others followed in London, notably Southalland later outside of the capital.

The Southall Monitoring Group’s history datesback to April 1979, when a protest by the localcommunity against the National Front led to over700 arrests, hundreds of injuries and the murder ofBlair Peach. The murder and the campaign thatfollowed led local people to examine racial attackson local estates, for example the Golf Links Estatein the London Borough of Ealing. This led to theformation of the Golf Links Racial Attacks Groupand later the Southall Monitoring Group, whichbecame the leading agency in the West London areaproviding a range of services to victims of racialharassment and domestic violence. In 1996, themanagement committee decided to change thename of the group to the Monitoring Group toreflect the changing nature of the work(www.monitoring-group.co.uk).

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, anti-racistharassment projects were set up in various areasacross the country. Many have developed since1989 at a time when the government began toadvocate a multi-agency approach to tackling racistharassment. However, the development of suchprojects has not been without problems. A study by

Argent et al. (2000) found that five of the 15 Londonboroughs mentioned ‘historic’ and ‘existing’tensions between the council and proactive localcommunity organisations. These tensions arosepartly as a result of what was expected of councilservices and the criticism that flowed fromcommunity organisations when these were not met.

The current research reflects on the work ofeight organisations challenging racist harassment,and this chapter outlines the broad features of howeach developed and operates.

Racial Awareness (RA) Helpline, Victim

Support Powys, Wales

This project was selected as a case study because itaimed to challenge racism in a rural area and wasbeing developed within an existing voluntaryorganisation.

Background

Powys is a large rural area in Wales. Its populationis spread across the county and primarily located insmall towns and villages. There are five VictimSupport offices across Powys of whichYstradgynlais Victim Support is one.

The Ystradgynlais Victim Support co-ordinatorquestioned why they were not getting any minorityethnic clients referred to them. The local policecommented that there had been no racist incidentsreported for six years. The general view fromagencies was that there was no problem and therewere no minority ethnic people in the area. In 1999,as a direct result of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry,Ystradgynlais Victim Support established theRacial Awareness Project (RA).

Aims of the project

The project aimed to establish a countywidetelephone helpline for those suffering racism and toformulate a long-term research strategy to collectmore accurate information on the lived experiencesof minority ethnic communities in Powys.

2 Racist harassment support projects

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The development of the project was oftenhampered by agencies not recognising the need forsuch an initiative and being accused of ‘creatingproblems that do not exist’.

However, many groups and organisations werevery supportive and funding was received initiallyfrom two local sources. Once this seed-cornfunding had been put in place, the Home Officeprovided a grant to contribute to the developmentof the project.

The work of the project

The project itself had funding to run for six months.The funding enabled a project worker andadministrator to be employed for eight hours eachper week. A telephone helpline was established forone afternoon per week (four hours). Theremaining four hours of the project worker’s timewere taken up with undertaking case visits andworking with other agencies.

Over a period of six months, the helplinereceived calls from over 100 people. The projectwas able to provide direct help to 65 people. It wasanticipated that the Racial Awareness Helplinewould deal with issues primarily relating tocriminal justice cases involving racism. However,the calls that were received by the project were notall to do with addressing issues of racistharassment and discrimination. The helpline foundthat the callers were asking for help and assistancewith a variety of issues.

Advertising and referrals

Victim Support schemes across Powys referredcases to the Racial Awareness Project. There werevery few referrals from the police because a lot ofincidents of harassment were occurring in schools.Posters and leaflets were designed and distributedto a range of statutory and voluntary agenciesacross Powys.

Benefits of the helpline

Although funding for the Racial Awareness Projectceased after six months, calls continued to be madeto the project. Among the benefits and outcomes ofthe project were: being able to identify and respondto the needs of callers, establishing better workingmethods with statutory agencies, offering trainingon racism to staff from Victim Support, offering asupport network to minority ethnic people andorganising an annual conference on diversity,which brings together agencies and local people.

INSAAF (Justice for Victims of Racial

Harassment Project), Newcastle

This project was selected because it was acommunity-based initiative working alongside analready established racist harassment supportproject (see following case study). The project wasfunded through an SRB programme in one specificarea of Newcastle.

Background

INSAAF was established in October 1997 throughan SRB initiative called ‘Reviving the Heart of theWest End’ based in the North Benwell area, whichhas a significant minority ethnic population. Theproject was initially funded for two years and,thereafter, its funding was reduced to 50 per centfrom the SRB initiative, with Newcastle CityCouncil contributing the shortfall. The projectemployed a full-time worker and a part-timeadministrative assistant. Funding was withdrawnin March 2001, after which the project closed.

Aims of the project

The project aims were: to provide intensive one-to-one support for victims of racial harassment livingwithin the SRB target area; to raise awareness ofracial harassment issues through training based oncasework; and to develop a multi-agency approachto tackling incidents.

6


Support for victims

The project offered one-to-one support for victimsof racist harassment. The support covered thefollowing activities: listening, creating reports,contacting organisations and visiting homes.Between March and September 2000, the projectdealt with 25 cases of racist harassment. It offeredsurveillance equipment to clients. This dependedon the severity of the case and was offered for aperiod of three months at a time.

Other work

INSAAF offered training to other organisations andlocal residents. It dealt not only with cases of racistharassment but also wider client needs such asimmigration issues, official paperwork forapplications for passports and general complaints.The co-ordinator felt that this additional work hadto be undertaken because the project wascommunity based and that, therefore, its credibilitydepended on how well it was able to respond toneed.

Advertising and referrals

The project had produced a range of leaflets in avariety of local languages as well as developing a‘Rights card’ (again, in different languages), whichwas widely distributed in the local area. As aconsequence, it was estimated that about 70 percent of all contacts made with the project were self-referrals.

Racial Harassment Support Group (West)

(RHSGW), Newcastle

This project was chosen because it was a single-officer project based within a local authority andhad grown out of a community-based initiative.

Background

The Racial Harassment Support Group West(RHSGW) developed from the Elswick SupportGroup which was set up in response to an increase

in incidents of harassment, especially racistharassment, in the west of the City of Newcastle.Several council departments seconded staff for atemporary period to assist in addressing the issuesarising and in monitoring the level of harassmentin the area. However, it became clear that full-timestaffing was required and four posts (twocommunity case workers and two part-timeadministrative assistants) were established for aninitial period of two years. At the end of the twoyears, funding was continued through the InnerCity Partnership and the City Council.

In 1994, after a review of community services,the project was also split to serve the east and westends of the city and the staff were divided betweenthe two sites. The relocation of the projectrecognised the growing concern about racistincidents in both parts of the city.

Aims of the project

The aims of the project are: to provide advice andsupport to people experiencing racial harassment;to identify and address issues of common concernarising from the casework; and to advise and assistrelevant agencies to improve their service provisionin relation to racial harassment. The main objectiveof RHSGW is to co-ordinate strategic responses toboth the immediate and longer-term needs of thoseexperiencing racist victimisation.

RHSGW workload

The RHSGW provides a casework service to clientsliving in the six inner west wards of Newcastle,although cases do come from others areas ofNewcastle. The average monthly caseload is about12 referrals, most of which are reported afterprolonged harassment. Between 1 January and 31December 2001, RHSGW independently recorded300 racist incidents, one-third of which becameongoing cases. Many of these cases involvedasylum seekers or international students. Theproject has estimated that, on average, it takes sixincidents to precipitate a referral to the project.

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Policy development

A significant aspect of RHSGW’s work is policydevelopment. The caseworker sits on a variety ofstrategic and working groups. Since the publicationof the Lawrence Inquiry, the project has received alarge increase in requests from local, regional andnational organisations for the project to providetraining, for information about racial harassmentand for opportunities to engage with minorityethnic communities.

Service development

RHSGW has been instrumental in developing newservices that respond to the needs of victims ofracist harassment. In July 1999, the Black MentalHealth User Group was established to enableminority ethnic people to seek peer support inrelation to their experiences of racist harassment.

In 2000, the Shena Project was established, as asports development scheme involving the Iraniancommunity. By promoting access to leisurefacilities, Shena offers the opportunity to addresssocial exclusion by providing a safe, supportiveenvironment for families to interact and establish asocially supportive infrastructure.

The Racial Harassment Strategy Group arosefrom the need to enhance strategic responses tocounter racist harassment in the inner west wards.Established under the umbrella of RHSGW, thegroup aims to design and deliver a race equalitytraining programme based on local need andnational standards, establish an anti-racist networkin the west of the city and develop community-based reporting centres as recommended by theStephen Lawrence Inquiry.

Need for RHSGW

A City Council review (Newcastle City Council,2000) stated that often the racial harassmentsupport groups were the only organisations thatthe victims felt able to approach in order to receivea sympathetic response. In many instances, theservice was the victim’s only lifeline. The review

said that such expectations from victims placedpressure on caseworkers. This pressure wascompounded by the fact that caseworkers oftenhad to negotiate with unsympathetic andsometimes hostile officers or agencies.

Leeds Racial Harassment Project (LRHP)

This project was selected because it was a localauthority initiative that became an independentcompany limited by guarantee.

Background

In 1994, Leeds Racial Equality Council and theEqual Opportunities Unit at Leeds City Councilapplied to Leeds Safer Cities for a grant to purchasecameras and recording equipment for installationat the homes of people experiencing racistharassment. The project would be city-wide but theconcentration of minority ethnic residents in certainwards meant that these would be a particular focusof attention. The project aimed to providesurveillance cover for 25 buildings (15 homes andten community buildings) per year. Funding wasapplied for and granted to purchase two sets ofcameras and recorders, and to produce 15,000leaflets in five languages.

The Leeds Racial Harassment Project (LRHP)was established in April 1995 for a period of twoyears through a joint initiative of the EqualOpportunities Unit of Leeds City Council and theLeeds Multi-agency Racial Harassment Forum onthe basis of an identified need for an agency tospecifically offer advice and support to the victimsof racial harassment. The project was described asfocusing on the immediate information andsupport needs of victims of racial harassmentwithin the community, and working in conjunctionwith various agencies to ensure that racialharassment victims were provided with an effectiveand efficient service, and were encouraged toreport.

8


Locating the work of the project

The project initially identified the Beeston area ofthe city as a particular target for attention. The CityCouncil’s Community Needs Analysis of the area,undertaken in 1994, had found that one-third ofminority ethnic residents in the area hadexperienced racial harassment during the time theyhad been living there.

A second application to Leeds Safer Cities in1995 enabled the LRHP to purchase a further twosets of cameras and recording equipment toprovide surveillance cover in 12 homes during theyear. A second target area – Burley – was identifiedfor the project to undertake work in. However,requests for surveillance equipment came from allparts of Leeds and not just the two areas identified.

Increase in caseload

The numbers of cases dealt with by the project haveincreased significantly since 1995. In 1995, thenumber of cases dealt with was 44. Four years later,this figure had increased to 136 cases.

Resource development

The LRHP has also developed a range of video andCD-ROM resources to challenge racist harassmentand to be used as training aids in schools.

Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Unit

(BRAMU)

This project was selected as a case study because itwas established within a community and describeditself as an independent support group.

Background

BRAMU was formed in 1987 and became fullyoperational in December 1989. At that time, it wasthe only organisation in Birmingham working as anindependent support group. BRAMU’s oftencritical stance of Birmingham City Council’sresponse to racist harassment and racial injustice

led to the withdrawal of funding from the localauthority in 1992. This nearly resulted in theclosure of the unit but, through voluntary workand some funding, it survived. BRAMU receivedlocal authority funding again in 1994 to employ amonitoring officer. It was not until 1998 that it hada full complement of staff, including a caseworker.

Aims of the project

BRAMU aims to bring the issue of racialharassment to the attention of policy makers andthe public at large through supporting victims ofracial attacks via casework and campaign work; thepublication of reports, posters and leaflets; and thepromotion, development and implementation ofanti-racist strategy through work in schools andestates.

Caseload

In 1989, BRAMU dealt with 62 cases of racistharassment. By 1994, this had increased to between70 and 80 cases per year. Between 1998 and 1999,the total number of new cases was 87.

Wider campaigns

BRAMU actively involves itself in a range of localand national campaigns against injustice. Its 1998–99 Annual Report was dedicated to Alton Manning,a young man who died in police custody. The AltonManning Campaign has been widely publicised byBRAMU and, in 1998, the project handed a 5,000-signature petition to the Home Office. In 1998, as aresult of its work on this campaign, BRAMU wasnominated for the Human Rights Award.

Working at grassroots

BRAMU vociferously defends its claim that ‘it isthe only independent community basedorganisation to be participating actively atgrassroots level in Birmingham’ (BRAMU, 1999). In1994, a report about multi-agency workingcommented that:

9


The Unit [BRAMU] is highly successful in providing aservice for the City; this service has received theacclaim and support of the community at large … andhas dealt with a large number of cases … Knowledgeof Birmingham’s resources and skilful handling ofindividual situations have formed the basis of a highlysuccessful strategy. Evidence of this is provided inthe number of local community groups that have lenttheir support to BRAMU and in the number of victimsthat feel sufficient confidence in the Unit to comeforward. (Back and Bains, 1994)

The defence of its grassroots status is in directchallenge to the establishment of BirminghamPartnership against Racial Harassment (seefollowing case study), which BRAMU sees as anagency set up by the local authority to underminethe work of an ‘independent’ community-basedsupport project.

Birmingham Partnership against Racial

Harassment (BPARH)

This project was chosen as a case study because itwas a local authority initiative that was in theprocess of becoming a limited company.

Background

BPARH was launched on 22 April 1996 as a multi-agency network for monitoring, responding to andhighlighting the issue of racist harassment inBirmingham. It was established in response toconcerns about the growing incidence of racistharassment within the city and the negative impactit was having on the cultural, business, communitysafety and educational experiences of the minorityethnic communities within Birmingham.

Aims of the project

The aim of BPARH is to combat racial harassmentand to provide support to victims. Such supportmay involve enabling black, Asian and minorityethnic citizens to access community support in

tackling racial harassment or to benefit fromeducational provision in a harassment-freeenvironment. BPARH also states that it aims to helppromote business development and improve thequality of life of black, Asian and minority ethniccitizens across the city.

Funding

BPARH was originally funded from a variety ofsources that included three directorates ofBirmingham City Council, West Midlands Policeand SRB, as well as a secondment from the housingdepartment. All of these agencies offered fundingover a period of three years.

The work of BPARH

BPARH has a wide remit. It not only collects andanalyses reported incidents across Birmingham butalso involves itself in victim support andcommunity and school-based training, as well asco-ordinating reporting centres and local caseworkforums.

Resource development

To aid some of its training work, BPARH hasdeveloped a video resource pack for schools calledIn the Mix, which is used in the training days.

Support against Racist Incidents (SARI),

Bristol

This case study was selected because it is anindependent, community-based support group andcovers both urban and rural areas.

Background

Victims of racist harassment who realised thatothers facing such problems had nowhere to turnfor help or support founded SARI in 1988. It wasnot until 1991 that SARI became fully operationaland, since that time, the project has dealt with over1,700 cases. Most staff and management committee

10


members of SARI have direct experience of racistattacks and many of the ex-clients continue to stayinvolved in the project.

Aims of the project

SARI describes its mission as to contribute towardsthe growth of multi-cultural attitudes in the West ofEngland, so that anyone – regardless of race,religion or ethnic background – can live in, work inor visit the area without fear of racial harassment.

Among its aims are: supporting andempowering victims of racial harassment andassisting in taking action against perpetrators;ensuring that racial attacks receive a co-ordinatedresponse from statutory and voluntary bodies; andraising awareness of issues around racialharassment through education and training.

Geographical expansion

From the original geographical remit of Bristol,SARI’s area of operation has widened. Thecasework and multi-agency work has expanded tocover Bath, north-east Somerset, north Somersetand south Gloucestershire. Many of these are ruralareas where there are small and dispersed minorityethnic populations.

Casework

Undertaking client-based casework is the primaryfunction of SARI. Although it is involved in anumber of multi-agency initiatives as well andtraining with schools, it continues its emphasis on‘strong client support’. In 1999–2000, SARI opened198 new cases and carried over 85 cases from theprevious year. Although the total number of newcases was a drop from the previous year’s figure of280, more telephone support and advice wasoffered in 1999–2000. The total number of newcases was 192 in 2000–01 and 263 in 2001–02.

Newham Monitoring Project (NMP), London

This project was selected as a case study because itwas the first community-based organisation in theUK to challenge racist harassment and hasremained independent.

Background

NMP is based in the East End of London in aborough which has a diverse minority ethnicpopulation. It was established in 1980 after a racistmurder and came to represent the culmination ofcommunity anger and frustration at the growth inracist attacks and the inability of local agencies torespond. Police harassment was a major issue inthe locality and NMP established itself as anindependent community-based group to challengeharassment perpetrated by these and other parties.

For a number of years, the local authorityfinancially supported NMP. However, this fundingceased in March 1997. As a direct result of this, thecapacity to provide support and assistance toindividuals and families was limited. The projecthad to reduce its staff from five to only one part-time worker and had to rent a smaller office. Theproject continued in the face of such adversitythrough the commitment and dedication ofvolunteers and its management committee, some ofwhom are ex-NMP caseworkers.

Aims of the project

NMP was set up to provide advice and support toindividuals and families suffering racist and/orpolice harassment. It is a political and campaigningorganisation that utilises casework to challengeoppression. NMP does not allow the police on itspremises and it does not sit on forums or panelswith the police because a substantial part of itscasework involves police harassment.

11


New funding

In 1999, NMP was successful in securing three-yearfunding from National Lotteries Charities Board(NLCB), which enabled them to employ twoworkers to provide a casework and emergencyservice. The primary aim is to develop NMP’sadvice and support services, which will include thefollowing:

• comprehensive 24-hour emergency service toprovide immediate and specialist help tovictims of racial and civil injustice

• casework support and assistance for theabove through outreach work

• monitoring, research and documentation ofincidents of racial harassment.

The funds have also enabled NMP to relocate toa larger office space that provides a small meetingspace and interview rooms.

Casework

Since 1981, NMP has dealt with an average of over400 cases a year. As a result of the withdrawal offunding in 1997, casework was reduced to aminimum for the following three years and NMP isstill in the process of rebuilding itself. Between 2000and 2001, it dealt with 150 cases. Of these, 33 percent were defined as racial harassment and 30 percent as police harassment. Nearly 50 per cent of allcases that NMP dealt with last year came throughthe 24-hour emergency service. A number of thesecalls were from friends and relatives of peopledetained in police custody.

Campaigning work

The cornerstone of NMP’s work is the campaignsthey get involved in. These are both local andnational campaigns to highlight injustice:

In some instances campaigns are necessary tohighlight the injustices and bring them to the publiceye. These campaigns are also a direct way ofdeveloping community involvement and collectiveorganisation to tackle racial violence. (NMP, 2000)

NMP also provides a direct challenge in the EastEnd of London to the British National Party (BNP)and the far right. At election times, the NMP willmobilise local communities to vote against far rightcandidates through posting leaflets door-to-doorand encouraging people to vote against the BNP:

During the campaign, NMP ferried elderly andisolated black voters to polling stations, and patrolledpolling stations ensuring voters were not intimidatedby BNP activists. (NMP, 2000)

NMP’s long history has enabled theorganisation to survive – often in the face of a veryadverse political and economic climate – and givesthe project credibility within the communities itrepresents.

Summary

The sections above have offered a brief pen pictureof the projects and their development and history.The following chapter goes on to look morespecifically at their role.

12

Introduction

As the previous chapter demonstrates, the role ofracist harassment support projects is not fixed buthas developed over time. All of the case studyprojects provide a range of services, as illustrated inTable 1. The staffing profile of the projects is shownin Table 2.

General

The primary purpose of most of the projects is tochallenge racist harassment through undertakingcasework and representing clients, multi-agencyliaison and preventative work through schools.Some projects concentrate more of their resources oncasework while others concentrate on preventionand monitoring. BRAMU and NMP would clearlyidentify themselves as political agencies because oftheir historical development and campaigningstance.

Aims and objectives

The key aim of all the projects is to provideassistance and support to victims of racistharassment. This aim is explicitly stated by allprojects. SARI states very clearly that it aims to‘empower’ victims of racist harassment and attacksto ‘survive the emotional, mental and physicaltrauma they experience’ (SARI, 1996). Although notall the projects state explicitly that they aim to‘empower’, their goal through casework is toensure clients have full knowledge of their rightsand how they can progress a complaint againstalleged perpetrator(s).

Some support projects felt they had a role inaiming to reduce local tensions that arise fromracist harassment and the lack of action fromagencies. Support projects also felt that a keyfunction was to take action against the perpetratorsof racist harassment through the support andguidance they offer to their clients.

Referrals

The support projects vary in terms of how theirclients are referred to the service. Althoughreferrals are received by the projects from the policeand local authorities, self-referral also forms a largepart of the overall number of cases. Both SARI andLRHP have a substantial number of self-referrals.In 1994–95, self-referral to SARI accounted forabout one-third of all cases. By 2000–01, this hadincreased to 61 per cent of all cases. LRHP has aself-referral rate of about 30 per cent. Such highlevels of self-referral indicate a willingness on thepart of victims to make a complaint when theyhave knowledge of the existence of a specialistservice. Both projects also attribute such high levelsof self-referral to the location of the projects – inareas where minority ethnic people live.

The levels of referrals from the police indicategood working relationships with those projects thathave actively sought to work with them and see astrategic value of having the police involved intheir work:

SARI firmly believes that the responsibility of tacklingracial violence does not belong to any one agency orindividual, but can only be achieved by us all workingtogether. Hence a fundamental philosophy withinSARI’s working ethic is the multi-agency approach.(SARI, 1996)

As project co-ordinator I have always been keen todevelop closer co-operation between agencies suchas the police … to ensure that all informationregarding racist incidents is shared and every victimreceives a co-ordinated quality service. (LRHP, 1999)

Referrals from Victim Support or othervoluntary agencies are very small, indicating thatthe ethos of partnership work and the message ofchallenging racist harassment may be less welldeveloped among other agencies.

3 Role of racist harassment support projects

13

Role of racist harassment support projects

Tab

le 1

R

an

ge

of

serv

ice

s o

ffe

red

by

su

pp

ort

pro

ject

s

Mul

ti-

Use

Mon

itor

ing

agen

cySc

hool

-D

evel

oped

Off

ervo

lunt

eers

of r

acis

tpa

rtne

rshi

pEx

tern

alPo

licy

base

dC

omm

unit

ytr

aini

ngse

curi

tyan

d/or

Man

agem

ent

Proj

ect

Cas

ewor

kin

cide

nts

wor

king

trai

ning

Cam

paig

ning

deve

lopm

ent

wor

kde

velo

pmen

tm

ater

ials

equi

pmen

tpl

acem

ents

com

mit

tee

BPA

RH

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

BR

AM

U✔

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

INSA

AF

✔✔

✔✔

LR

HP

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

✔

NM

P✔

✔✔

✔✔

RA

✔✔

✔✔

RH

SGW

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

SAR

I✔

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

✔✔

Tab

le 2

S

taff

ing

in

th

e s

up

po

rt p

roje

cts

(Ja

nu

ary

20

03

)

Trai

nin

gTo

tal

Cas

ewor

ker

s/an

dst

aff

Dir

ecto

r/Te

amsu

pp

ort

Ed

uca

tion

You

thV

olun

teer

Dev

elop

men

tm

ark

etin

gFu

nd

rais

ing

Fin

ance

Off

ice

nu

mb

ers

Pro

ject

co-o

rdin

ator

man

ager

wor

ker

sof

fice

rw

ork

erco

-ord

inat

orof

fice

rof

fice

rof

fice

rm

anag

erad

min

istr

ator

(&FT

Es)

BPA

RH

1 FT

1 FT

1 FT

2 FT

5B

RA

MU

1 FT

1 FT

1 FT

3IN

SAA

F1

FT0.

5 FT

E2

(1.5

)L

RH

P1

FT3.

5 FT

E2.

5 FT

E0.

5 FT

E1

FT2

FTE

12 (1

0)N

MP

0.5

FTE

0.5

FTE

2 (1

)R

A0.

20 F

TE

0.20

FT

E2

(0.4

)R

HSG

W1

FT0.

5 FT

E2

(1.5

)SA

RI

1 FT

1 FT

5 FT

1 FT

0.25

FT

E0.

25 F

TE

1 FT

2 FT

E12

(11.

5)

Not

es:

FT =

full-

tim

e; F

TE

= fu

ll-ti

me

equi

vale

ntIN

SAA

F’s

fund

ing

end

ed in

Mar

ch 2

001

and

the

proj

ect w

as c

lose

d.

RA

fund

ing

end

ed a

nd th

e w

ork

was

mai

nstr

eam

ed in

to V

icti

m S

uppo

rt P

owys

.

14


Location and geographical spread

All projects have cases referred to them and directenquiries from outside their geographical remit. InNewcastle, cases have been referred from all areasacross the North East. Similarly, in Birmingham,BRAMU undertakes case visits outside of the Cityand SARI has expanded its service to include townsand cities outside of Bristol.

However, it is not always possible for a projectto accept cases from outside of its catchment area,particularly if it is a single-person project. In suchcases, the project can offer a referral to anotherappropriate agency. The Racial Awareness Project(RA) , which set up a one-afternoon-a-weektelephone helpline, has had calls from acrossPowys. However, it can take up to four hours todrive from where the project is based to thenorthern reaches of the county, thus limiting howmuch casework can be taken on.

Volunteering and placements

Most of the projects encourage volunteering but,while some are actively engaged in recruitingvolunteers, others – especially those dependent ona single officer – have found the additionalworkload that such an activity creates difficult toaccommodate.

LRHP has a co-ordinator who has successfullyrecruited a number of volunteers and both SARIand BRAMU have the use of a small number ofvolunteers. NMP has a bank of up to 25 volunteerswho are the key workers on the 24-hour emergencyhelpline and are managed by a worker. For theseprojects, volunteers are seen as an integral part ofthem functioning. Although, overall, the actualnumber of volunteers is quite small, theirinvolvement enhances the work and the reach ofthe projects.

Volunteers are trained by the projects. BRAMUhas developed a comprehensive handbook for itsvolunteers. Similarly, NMP has an emergencyservice handbook, which provides information onpolice procedure and guidelines, and practical

steps that the volunteers should follow dependingon the type of incident they face.

NMP has two aspects to its training: knowledgeof the law, legal rights and police procedure, andthe practical application of these through casestudies. Volunteers are expected to undergo aminimum of two training sessions and attendregular briefings to keep them up to date on newdevelopments.

A number of the projects have regularplacements from local colleges and universities.Individuals are on placement for periods of up tosix months and, like volunteers, are involved in allaspects of the work of the projects. These local linkswith educational institutions ensure that the workof the projects is made public to young people whootherwise may not take an interest in the challengesthat racism can pose.

Assistance and support

The ‘assistance and support’ that is at the heart ofprojects’ role involves a number of elements:

• taking a complaint (self-referral or agency)

• deciding on how and where to meet theclient

• logging the complaint and creating a file

• providing relevant information (for example,leaflets, agency referral, incident diary)

• offering basic security tips or tools

• obtaining information (regarding thecomplaint)

• developing an action plan with the client

• undertaking the investigation of thecomplaint

• keeping the client informed

• taking action with agencies

15


• attending court with the client

• resolving and closing the case with theclient’s permission.

All of the above are instruments of the caseworkprocess and are the key attributes to ‘providingsupport and assistance’. The specific role ofcasework is returned to in the next chapter.

Other activities

It was noted in the introduction that supportprojects’ role extends beyond this casework role.Many projects have staff involved in preventativework, training and education. In many of thesupport projects, there is no more than onecaseworker (unlike SARI, which has defined itscore work as casework with victims). Indeed, insingle-officer projects, the co-ordinator undertakesall aspects of casework, training and multi-agencyliaison. Among the range of services offered werethe following.

Training

As support projects have developed andestablished themselves in the voluntary and thestatutory sector, the services they offer have grown.Thus, most of the projects offer training to otheragencies on racist harassment and related concerns.Some projects have designated training officerposts, while the majority undertake training as partof their overall duties.

LRHP describes its training as aiming to giveparticipants:

… an understanding and confidence in how to dealeffectively and professionally with reported racialincidents. (LRHP, 1999)

Similarly, Birmingham Partnership againstRacial Harassment (BPARH), in October 1999, putin place a rolling programme of training andworkshops looking at how to raise awareness anddeliver best practice on the issue of racial

harassment. A number of the projects mentioned anincrease in requests for training/workshops fromboth the statutory and voluntary sector.

The focus of training is on frontline staff – thosemost likely to come into direct contact with thevictims of racist harassment. The main beneficiariesof the training and information talks are the police,housing providers, education and youth services,and victim support schemes.

BPARH offers practical courses like ‘Working asa reporting centre’, which directly fit into its day-to-day work as a reporting centre for racistincidents. However, it organises and undertakes aseries of workshops and discussions aiming ‘tolook at the intricate and often difficult subject ofracism, subjects that are often seen as taboo ornever to be discussed’ (BPARH, 2000). Such talkshops as ‘Whites suffering racism’, ‘Islamaphobia’or ‘Black self-determination’ are designed tohighlight wider issues that the project is implicitlyinvolved in, but also to raise awareness of thehistorical processes of oppression and their currentimpacts on minority ethnic communities in Britain.

Projects that have dedicated training officersalso commonly have a budget for developingpublicity material and associated costs. Thus,BPARH was able to distribute 700 brochures widelyto statutory, voluntary and community contacts.From this publicity, 125 delegates responded andhave been trained at its offices (BPARH, 2000).

Training is a time-consuming feature of thework of the projects but one that is demanded moreand more by agencies working in the post-Macpherson era. Single-officer projects and othersmaller projects are unlikely to be able to offerextensive training programmes as part of theiroverall work schedule. For example, the trainingthat is offered by SARI and Racial HarassmentSupport Group (West) (RHSGW) is oftenundertaken by the caseworker as a dual function.Training is offered not as an income-generatingactivity but as a response to an identified gap in theknowledge base and response of local services.

16


Developing resources

The expansion of some of the projects beyondcasework has involved the development of trainingand resource materials to use primarily with youngpeople in an educational setting. Both BPARH andLRHP have developed extensive resources to beused by their education officers in schools andyouth centres.

In Birmingham, BPARH has developed ‘a videoresource which aims to tackle the issues of racialharassment’ (BPARH, 2000). In the Mix is aimed athigh schools across the city and its launch in 1999was used as a platform to promote the work of theTraining and Education Development Officer toschools. Forty-one of the 81 high schools attendedthe launch, after which follow up contacts weremade with 27 schools. Eight of these used the videoin their classes.

As part of the European Year against Racism in1997, LRHP also produced a video resource andtraining manual called Face to Face to ‘help addressthe problem of racial harassment in schools’ (LRHP,1999). The video was produced through a series ofsessions with a racially representative mix of youngpeople and the resource book produced tocomplement the video provides a range of ideasand formats for activities to discuss and challengethe issue of racist harassment. All of the highschools in Leeds were given a copy of the videoand resource book, and the project offered to runworkshops in schools, 28 per cent of whichrequested a workshop session.

A second video and booklet – A World of

Difference – has also been developed, through partfunding from National Lotteries Charities Board.This film explores issues relevant to racistharassment, is aimed at upper primary and highschool students, and is intended to act as a catalystfor discussion. LRHP has also liaised with atheatre-in-education company to develop acompact disc arising from a play based on a real-life racist assault. In 1999, the theatre companyvisited four high schools in Leeds and a further

eight schools in the following year. The compactdisc Just Words … innit? encourages young peopleto explore racism through radio drama and toreport incidents of racist harassment.

The development of resources to challengeracist harassment is not an approach that has beenadopted by all projects. However, such resourcesare a means of raising awareness of young peopleto racism and aiding in the prevention of racistharassment through direct work with them.Although the response from high schools is limited,where racist harassment projects have had access towork with students, the response has always beenvery positive. Indeed, LRHP and BPARH have eachmade contact with over 1,000 students throughtheir education and youth work.

Education and youth work

As noted above, the development of training andresources is part of challenging racist harassmentthrough education and youth work. LRHP has alsodeveloped a youth forum called ‘Stand togetheragainst Racism’ (STAR), which is co-ordinated by apart-time youth worker. The worker has developeda ‘Young persons’ survival pack’, which offersinformation and advice to young people sufferingfrom racist harassment. The pack, funded byNational Lotteries Charities Board and ComicRelief, is made available through schools, youthclubs and other venues. LRHP has three youthworkers working at both school-based and youth-work levels.

SARI, LRHP and BRAMU undertake directcasework with young people and all havedesignated officers. National Lotteries CharitiesBoard funded SARI’s education officer until March2000. The role continues and is now dividedbetween general casework, training and schools-based work and casework. The school-based workis funded by most of the local education authoritiescovered by the organisation.

In 1999–2000, LRHP had 41 cases referred to it.Of these, 27 cases had direct input from one of

17


three LRHP youth workers. In the same year, SARIsupported, advised and provided counselling to138 children, young people and their parents.However, the actual number of referrals directlyfrom schools is very low: no referrals were madefrom schools to the LRHP in 1999–2000 and onlyone in 1998–99.

Complaints about racist harassment from youngpeople in school often entail an education/youthworker not only being involved with the victimand victim’s family, but also negotiating access intothe school to help develop anti-racist policies andconduct training and awareness raising with bothstudents and staff.

In 2000–01, the majority of SARI’s educationcases were in primary schools:

This seems a clear indication that a lot of anti-racistwork needs to be carried out with young children, andthat perhaps schools need to take the issue moreseriously than they have in the past. (SARI, 2001)

One of the three youth workers based at theLRHP has a remit to work with the 230-plusprimary schools in Leeds. The response fromschools for awareness raising with children has notbeen very forthcoming. The vast majority did notrespond to mailshots regarding potential work inschools:

Getting access through the heads is usuallyimpossible. I try to get access through the PSE[personal and social education] co-ordinator oreducation welfare service. (Youth worker)

It was also highlighted that training resourcesfor this age group are very scarce. LRHP reportsthat, when its youth workers’ project was set up, itwas not envisaged that it would be dealing withcase referrals for young people. Casework withyoung people came about as it became obvious thatyoung people experiencing racist harassment hadno support or practical guidance.

Campaigning against injustice

Some racist harassment support projects areactively involved in national, high-profile politicalcampaigning. However, not all projects getinvolved in such campaigns although they willprovide moral support to such initiatives:

We will offer our support but how far we get involvedis determined by our own workload. Campaigningwork takes a lot of time and energy. (Caseworker)

BRAMU and the NMP are often activelyinvolved in campaign work. They are usually theprimary organisers of campaigns, particularlywhere incidents have occurred in theirgeographical area, or when an individual or familyhas asked for their help. Campaigns largely focuson:

• deaths in custody

• challenging court sentences and miscarriagesof justice

• racist murders

• campaigning for inquiries arising out ofinjustice.

For example:

Alton Manning was a client of BRAMU’s at the timeof his death. He had reported to the Unit that he hadsuffered police harassment for a number of years,and that the police seemed determined to send himto prison. Alton was arrested not long after coming tosee us, on charges that were always suspect, andwhich have been refuted by the person who waspressured into bringing them. After being sent toprison, Alton complained of being beaten and raciallyabused. On the night of his death, he telephoned hismother, warning her that he believed he would soonbe killed. (BRAMU, 1999)

Having begun in December 1995, the campaignto find out what happened to Alton while in ‘theduty of care’ of the Prison Service continues to the

18


present day. BRAMU has organised candlelit vigils,petitions to the Home Office and has continued tosupport the family through a very painful processhighlighting what it considers to be a series ofmiscarriages of justice.

In a similar vein, NMP has been involved in anumber of campaigns arising out of black peopledying in police custody. In its written submission tothe Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, NMP stated that thefollowing principles should underpin a death incustody:

• immediate suspension of all officers involvedin a death in custody until investigations arecompleted

• full disclosure of all information to familiesand their legal representatives

• investigation of deaths in custody to beabsolutely independent of institutions underexamination (NMP, 2000).

Such high-profile campaigning can bringprojects into conflict both with agencies that theywould otherwise work with on routine racistharassment casework and with potential funders.Political campaigning does not always rest easilywith funding bodies. However, campaigningactivities are viewed by the projects as a publicgood, aiming to influence change through raisingawareness of injustice.

Policy development

Finally, all projects are involved at some level inpolicy development and influence. The expertisethat the projects have gathered over the years ofoperation has meant that, at a local level, projectsare often asked for advice and information by arange of agencies, for example, schools and localeducation authorities. Furthermore, the central rolethat many of the projects play in training frontlinestaff of local authorities and other bodies alongsidetheir positions on various forums usually meansthat racist harassment is kept on the local politicaland policy agenda.

Summary

This chapter highlights that projects have, over aperiod of time, established a range of services thatthey offer to victims of racist harassment, localcommunities and external agencies and that theirstated primary focus is to offer advice, assistanceand support to victims of racist harassment.However, this does not mean that individualprojects have a large number of caseworkers withintheir staff profile or indeed that there is more thanone caseworker in many of the projects. Victimsupport through casework can sometimes besecondary to the development of other initiativesand posts, and often this is dictated to by prioritiesthat funding bodies may set or relations betweenthe projects and the local authority. The followingchapter explores in detail how casework is used asa tool to support victims and respond to racistharassment.

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Introduction

This chapter focuses on the routine of casework,services that are offered directly to victims of racistharassment and any developments that haveoccurred within these projects as a result of thisapproach. In addition to outlining key aspects ofcasework practice, the chapter includes a numberof recommendations for those involved.

In consultation with caseworkers, the followingdefinition of racist harassment casework wasdeveloped:

Casework is an interaction which makes clientsaware of their rights enabling them to take backcontrol of their lives and offering realistic expectationsof the outcome of their complaint.

Racist harassment caseworkers viewed theprimary function of casework as ‘to deliver anagreed action plan with the client(s)’. This involved‘alleviating the distress and despair’ that clients feltand,

… reducing the stresses and problems faced byvictims of racial harassment through the caseworkerdoing some of the legwork for the client.(Caseworker)

Casework was viewed as a multi-tasked andmulti-skilled intervention involving working withvictims, undertaking administrative duties inconnection with a case and actively engaging withrelevant agencies to a successful resolution of thereported problem. Four key tasks were identified ascrucial to effective casework: offering help, creatingan intervention, reducing the immediate impact ofthe harassment and aiming to resolve thecomplaint.

Casework is a high-profile activity within thesupport projects and takes up a large amount oftime and energy of those involved. The typicalsequence of events that occurs when a case isreferred to a support project is discussed below.

Casework in practice

Referral and contact

A case enters a project through two sources – self-referral or through an agency. The nature of thereferral dictates the type of initial response from thecaseworker. The project will usually arrange a visitwith the client: some by writing a letter to the clientasking them to get in touch, others – if they havetelephone details – by ringing to arrange anappointment and decide whether a home visit orcontact at the project office is preferred. Standardpractice is that caseworkers aim to meet theirclients within seven to 14 days of receiving thecomplaint, although immediate contact can bearranged depending on the nature and severity ofthe case. More often than not the letter that is sentout to the victim is in English with someexplanatory information about the project.

RHSGW describes its initial response as follows:

Casework referrals are given immediate priority. Eachtime a referral is received from an agency or anindividual, RHSG (West) writes to the victim within 24

4 Responding to racist harassment through

casework

Box 1 Role of casework

• Offering support and advice to clients.• Co-ordinating multi-agency casework.• Training and offering advice to agencies.• Resolving the complaint – ‘fair and swift

solution’.• Reducing the impact of racist harassment

on victims and their families.

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hours, to establish direct contact. This introductoryletter invites victims to respond. A leaflet translatedinto community languages is also enclosed, providinginformation about our work, and indicating how wewill be able to help. This is then followed by atelephone call within 72 hours to confirm the date andtime of meeting. At the initial meeting, I providerelevant advice and information (e.g. instructionalsheets on Reporting and Recording RacialHarassment). I independently document the extent ofthe harassment and generate an action plan ofresponses agreed by the client. Independentdocumentation is then corroborated against policerecords and used as a basis to further the action plan.Client confidentiality is always assured, and clients’wishes respected, with information shared withexternal agencies only on a ‘need to know’ basis.(Caseworker)

Some referrals do not respond to letters fromcaseworkers. In these instances, cases are closedafter a defined time lag. Whether a case visit can bearranged within seven to 14 days depends on theworkload of the caseworkers. In a number of cases,a visit may not actually occur until four weeks afterthe referral has been made because of their largeworkload. However, this largely depends on theseverity of the case. Again, some projects willdefine from the outset whether the case has a high,medium or low priority.

Whether a client is met in the office or at home,the procedure for collecting information is verysimilar. Caseworkers tend to allocate in the regionof one hour per visit, which can include listening tothe accounts of the victim, completing thenecessary forms and advising on appropriate actionand what the caseworker can do for the client.

A home visit often, but not always, starts withthe caseworker producing appropriateidentification to verify who they are. Identificationis crucial, especially if the client feels under attackor threatened from their harasser. However, frommaking case visits with some projects, it was

observed that identification cards were not carriedas a matter of routine.

The caseworker’s aim in the interaction with theclient is to do at least the following:

• take details of the complaint

• complete any monitoring and consent forms

• offer advice and reassurance

• where appropriate offer security equipment

• decide with the client what they want to donext.

Recommendation

• All projects should have photographicidentification and show it to all clients as amatter of routine.

Each caseworker differs in their approach butall aim to elicit from the client their version ofevents. In a scenario where listening to the client isof utmost importance, it is often very difficult towrite substantial notes. A method adopted by somecaseworkers is to repeat to the client what theyknow about the complaint from their own notesmade at the point of the referral. They then ask theclient to amend any inaccuracies or elaborate ontheir story.

In all of the interactions observed by theresearcher, it was apparent that the client clearlywanted to tell their story. Often the clients’ need totell their version of events gets in the way of theroutine of form filling. It can also take a substantialamount of time to get the clients to the point ofarticulating for themselves what action they wantthe caseworker and other agencies to take.

Confidentiality

It is often explained verbally by the caseworker thatthe information they share with the client isconfidential. The clients are told that, with their

21

Responding to racist harassment through casework

consent, information will be shared with otheragencies to progress the complaint. SARI asks allclients to read and sign a consent form, which,among other things, highlights that the project willnot take any action without the consent of theclient.

Data collection

Some projects have developed elaborate forms thattake a range of details from the clients while otherstake very basic information. The type and extent ofinformation taken depends on the nature andfunction of the project. Support projects thatmonitor racist incidents beyond casework ask for arange of details that feed into a network of otheragencies. Other projects, which primarilyundertake casework, collect minimum informationfrom the client for monitoring and statisticalpurposes within the project.

The minimum information collected is:

• victim’s details (name, address, telephonenumber)

• gender• date of birth and age (of main victim)• ethnic origin of the victim• English language proficiency• type of incident• details of incident.

Others will also ask for information on thefollowing:

• location of incident• action taken by the victim and the response• impact on security and safety• profile of the perpetrator• previous incidents• consent from the victim to refer the case to

other agencies.

As more extensive data has been collected, someof the projects have developed databases to recorddetailed information about cases for monitoringpurposes. BPARH has developed a database called‘VICTIM’, in which the monitoring officer willregularly input all cases referred to them byparticipating reporting centres. Between April 1999and February 2001, a total number of 1,626 caseswere entered. The database allows the caseworkerto view what action has been taken by variousagencies and it can generate a range of aggregate

Recommendations

• Projects that are storing data on a database,either as part of a monitoring function oras part of a multi-agency co-ordination ofall cases, should explain this clearly to allclients and explain why and for whatlength of time their details will be stored.

• Projects should also review how securetheir computers are for storing confidentialinformation.

Security equipment

Caseworkers are sometimes able to offer immediatesolutions to reduce a client’s fear and the likelihoodof further racist harassment. Personal alarms areoffered to clients as a matter of routine by thoseprojects that keep them. Some projects are also ableto offer surveillance equipment for short periods oftime to households if their property is under attack.This is installed by the project usually with theassistance of the police and can remain installed forup to three months. LRHP has 14 sets ofsurveillance equipment, eight of which have audiofacilities, which enable the capture of verbal abuse.‘Pay as you go’ mobile telephones can also beoffered in some cases.

The caseworker, acting on behalf of clients, cansometimes get others (e.g. housing departments) totake appropriate action in installing securityequipment, even when the client has tried andfailed to get an agency response:

It took five months for a safety lock to be put on mydoor yet the police said it was needed. It was onlywhen SARI got involved that this happened.

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information that feeds directly into the caseworkforums.

The information the database can provide is:

• profile of victim• profile of perpetrator• referral agency• agencies involved• nature and location of incidents• police action• court action• victim satisfaction• number of cases opened and closed.

‘VICTIM’ is an elaborate database that enablesBPARH to serve the function of a monitoring centreand also offers detailed information about thenature of, and responses to, cases. It is amanagement tool to process a large amount ofinformation that is generated by multi-agencypartnership working through the reporting centresscheme. SARI also maintains a central database forBristol, Bath and north-east Somerset, which thepolice and council feed information into.

Support packs

All caseworkers offer some type of support pack tothe client. These vary in content and quality, but thebasic information includes contact details of thecaseworker, an emergency contact number, a leafletexplaining what racist harassment is and acomplainant incident recording sheet (diary),which the client can complete as incidents occur.Such incident logging sheets are also given toclients by housing departments. Clients appear tohave mixed views about the utility of this process:

If people respond to what you write in log sheetsthen that is a type of support because you feel likeyou have been listened to.

All my reports said the same thing – what do they[housing department] do with these sheets of paper?

It is like they [housing department] put them in a fileand forget about it. Who reads them?

Some projects have developed informationspecifically for young people and others havedeveloped ‘Rights cards’, which detail what aperson should do if they are arrested. All of thesesources of information offer the number of theproject as a source of advice and assistance.

The support packs provide the client withuseful information in the event they are attackedagain. However, support packs also make sure thata range of contact details are given to the client,thus ensuring they have a number of options indeciding on a course of action. The process ofproviding support packs is part of the project’s roleof empowering clients through knowledge abouttheir rights and who they can contact.

Recommendation

• Projects need to consider translating someof the information they provide. This isparticularly important for meeting theneeds of new communities.

Counselling

A number of caseworkers mentioned the need tohave some basic counselling skills to help theirclients. Most caseworkers are not trainedcounsellors, although many have picked uprelevant skills through directly working withclients and some have developed links with localcounselling services. RHSGW will, as a matter ofroutine, offer a referral to a counsellor that someclients have accessed. RA have utilised all theirskills as Victim Support volunteers and staff tooffer counselling support to their clients. Manycaseworkers felt that counselling skills need to bedeveloped within the projects, but a lack of formalqualifications, together with time and resourcerestrictions, have meant that this is not alwayspossible.

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Closing a case

A case is closed by a project almost always inconsultation with the client. A case is closed usuallywhen:

• the client has been moved and has settledinto the new accommodation

• the harassment has ceased in the location itwas reported

• the case has been dealt with via prosecutionor other intervention

• the client has not made contact with thecaseworker over a defined period of time.

In almost all of these cases, the caseworker willask the permission of the client to close the file.Once a file is closed, it can be reopened if problemsreoccur or new complaints are made. However,because of the heavy workload of mostcaseworkers, they tend to want to see casesresolved more quickly. This is not always possiblebecause of the different needs of each client. Someof the projects will send a satisfaction questionnaireto find out how the service that clients receivedcould be improved.

Casework forums

Caseworkers generally attend casework forums intheir area. The overall function of the forums is tomeet regularly to discuss cases that happen in theirlocal geographical area, to exchange information,agree action plans utilising joint workingapproaches, and to support and facilitate aresolution for the victim. The casework forum is thearena for developing and recommending goodpractice through a multi-agency approach. Often,the sheer volume of cases discussed can make theprocess unwieldy. At one such forum in Leeds, itwas agreed that, in order to make the processmanageable, a maximum of 25 cases would bediscussed at any one time.

Supporting local businesses

Caseworkers are often involved in supporting localminority ethnic business people, particularlyshopkeepers and restaurant owners. In Newcastle,the local project undertook a research project on theextent of racist harassment experienced by localSouth Asian traders in the east of the city(Newcastle City Council, 1998). The survey foundthat 87 per cent of all traders said they were beingracially harassed. The vast majority of these traderswanted access to closed-circuit television (CCTV)with less than 17 per cent wanting direct victimsupport.

BPARH also undertook a research project withlocal minority ethnic businesses and found thatone-third of all restaurant owners or staff had beenassaulted and one-fifth had had their propertydamaged. The survey resulted in BPARHdeveloping an innovative project called ‘the EthnicMinority Business Security Scheme’. This is a five-year project funded through the SingleRegeneration Budget. The aim of the scheme is toprovide financial support to minority ethnicbusinesses in the inner-city areas of Birmingham, toenable them to upgrade security in order to combatracist harassment.

Recommendation

• Projects should review the skills of theircaseworkers in relation to the needs oftheir clients and explore means by whichthe identified skills needs could be met.

Recommendation

• Projects should consider evaluating alltheir case contacts. This will enable them toat least identify how casework could beimproved, the benefits of their interventionand how clients feel about the service theyhave received.

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The scheme provides a grant to a maximum of£1,200 for security equipment and installation costs,and aims to assist 30 businesses over three years.Businesses can choose from the following securitymeasure options: CCTV, burglar alarm and CCTVoption, a shutter and alarm option, a shutter and orgrilles or personal alarm option.

LRHP has written a guide for shopkeepers andsmall businesses providing relevant contact detailsand some tips on personal safety. Caseworksupport with local businesses can continue for anumber of years because moving, in the event ofsustained racist harassment, is not always anoption that owners consider practical. Thus, muchof the intervention with local businesses is framedin terms of improving security at the premises andsupporting business owners through the process ofcourt appearances against local perpetrators.Security equipment provides results but can oftenonly be available for a short period of time:

The project put up a camera and that was excellentbecause we caught a lot of people through that. But ithad to be taken down because they had a shortage ofcameras. They have to prioritise and give the camerato certain people.

Expanding casework

It is more likely that people of African Caribbeanand South Asian descent will access the services of aproject than other ethnic groups – for example,Chinese and Vietnamese communities or refugeesand asylum seekers. This has been recognised bysome of the projects and they are attempting toengage with these communities to highlight theservice they offer. In Newcastle, much of the growthin casework has been with asylum seekers who havebeen attacked by local white youths. Similarly, inNewham, the support project has developed aninitiative to work with local asylum and refugeeorganisations to challenge racist harassment and tosupport victims. BRAMU holds surgeries asrequired at the Refugee Council in Birmingham.

Work with asylum seekers and refugees can bevery intensive and time-consuming. Often there is alanguage barrier, there are needs that the clientexpresses beyond the racist attack and many,through the Home Office dispersal programme,feel isolated and vulnerable. As a consequence, thecaseworker at RHSGW, for example, dedicates alarge amount of time liaising with the NationalAsylum Support Service (NASS) to try and getfamilies moved to places where they have somefamiliar connections. The caseworker has alsofound it difficult to develop a consistent approachwith clients who cannot communicate in Englishbecause, at each case meeting, a differentinterpreter is sent to help facilitate the meeting. Anumber of projects commented that they do nothave an identified budget to pay for interpreters.

Recommendations

• Projects should identify the cost of usinginterpreters as a part of their overallbudget.

• Projects should ensure that the interpretersthey use meet local or national standardsof good practice.

Impact of casework

Casework undertaken by an independent supportgroup was seen as having the impact of ‘addingmore weight to a complaint from a victim’ and thishad resulted in ‘other organisations responding toour service user needs more effectively’(caseworker).

Often, part of the consequence of casework andthe resolution of the complaint includesperpetrators being charged with raciallyaggravated offence. This has the effect ofhighlighting that ‘agencies are taking the problemseriously’ (caseworker). Projects will offer theirclients support through the complaint process andattend court with witnesses.

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A by-product of successful casework was therecognition that an increase in caseloads had directimplications on funding and staffing. Further, someprojects have seen more positive engagement fromthe minority ethnic community as a result of thework both the projects and caseworkers undertake.BRAMU, for example, mentioned that a strength ofcasework is that local people are more likely torefer clients and participate in public meetings thatresult in a genuine partnership between thecommunity and the project.

Strengths and weaknesses

At a workshop with caseworkers, there wasunanimous agreement that casework was not

always effective. In explaining why they thoughtcasework was not always effective, both theweaknesses and strengths were highlighted (seeTable 3).

In identifying the weaknesses of casework, theoverwhelming response was that caseworkers hadtoo many cases to deal with and that there were notenough caseworkers to cope with the demands thatcases presented. The consequence of this was thatcaseworkers were unable to provide adequatesupport to clients or could offer help only in a crisissituation. A number of caseworkers highlightedthat they were managing in excess of 80 cases atany one time.

The limited nature of funding often meant thatit was not possible to fully develop a caseworkservice. Further, the continued denial of theproblem of racism by some organisations impactedon the effectiveness of racist harassment caseworkand the relative merits of a multi-agency approachwere seen as crucial to effective one-to-one client-driven casework, but this was sometimes seen aslacking:

… it’s [casework] only as effective as the knowledgeof others who have an input into a case. (Caseworker)

Box 2 Impact of casework

• Empowerment of the client.• Resolution of the complaint/problem.• Refinement of a client-centred service.• Improved working relations with other

agencies.• Development of support networks for

victims.• Raising awareness of the problem.• Funding issues as casework increases.

Table 3 Strengths and weaknesses of casework

Strengths Weaknesses

Offer an empowering support service to clients Caseworkers overwhelmed by too many cases andtoo few caseworkers.

Multi-agency working on behalf of clients Limited resources and funding – caseworkers areemployed on fixed-term contracts.

Commitment of caseworkers Racist harassment is denied by external agencies asa problem and its impact is poorly understood.

Skills caseworkers have developed to enable a Lack of co-ordination between agencies whencomplaint to be actioned and support clients dealing with complaints of racist harassment.

Training other agencies to respond to racist Caseworkers’ inability to meet the expectations ofharassment the client.

Input into local policy formation on crime and No national standard for racist harassmentdisorder casework.

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The strengths of casework were seen very clearlyin terms of the direct support given to clients andthe impact of a client-centred approach:

… caseworkers get results. (Caseworker)

… service users receive a more effective response.(Caseworker)

Multi-agency working and effective networkingwith other organisations were also seen asstrengths of the support projects:

… contact with other agencies progresses racialawareness and equality issues. (Caseworker)

… multi-agency working is the best way forward todealing with casework. (Caseworker)

The commitment that caseworkers have to theirwork in the face of regular funding crises and large

workloads was viewed as a strength, as were theskills and expertise they have developed throughdirect working with clients and agencies.

Summary

This chapter has described how caseworkers workwith their clients from the initial complaint throughto closing the case. It has highlighted that thecaseworker has numerous roles within therelationship with their client – from advocate, toactive listener, to enabling the client to resolve thecomplaint. The chapter also indicates the perceivedstrengths and limitations of casework. Thefollowing chapter explores the impact of theprojects and the difference they can make to thelives of their clients.

27

Introduction

The experience of racist victimisation can leavepeople feeling isolated and often unsure aboutwhere to go to progress a complaint. Chahal andJulienne (1999) highlighted that, although mostvictims will report to the police at some point, theyoften want to disclose to, and be represented by, anagency that can offer an empathetic service. In thepresent research, interviews were undertaken withexisting and ex-clients, management committeemembers of the projects and caseworkers toidentify the impact of the support projects.

Finding the support project

How people experiencing racist harassment foundthe support project varied. There was no singlemethod of discovering that an organisation existedand could help the complainant with their problem.Although projects advertise their services quitewidely, this does not always mean that thoseneeding to access them know about the services. Insome cases, the victim comes in contact with asupport project because the complaint has beenreferred directly from a reporting agency that thevictim first approached:

The police were brilliant, absolutely excellent, there isno way I could fault them for what they did and howmuch support they gave me. They actually put me onto SARI right from the beginning.

Whether a direct referral is made by an agencyto a support project can often depend on the type ofrelations between the agency and the project. Thosesupport projects that have fostered good workingrelations with the police and housing tend toreceive regular referrals. But such good relationsare sometimes very specific to an area housingoffice, or police divisional area, or with certainofficers and are not a guarantee that the client will

be given appropriate information from the agencythey first approach:

After two years of incidents we reported it to thepolice, they said they couldn’t do anything because itwasn’t racial. We went to see a solicitor and he saidyou will need to get the Racial Board [Leeds RacialHarassment Project] to help. I found their number inthe telephone book and when they got involved thepolice started to get involved.

In some situations, the client got in touch with asupport project after exhausting their options withthe agency they first complained to. Someinterviewees suggested they knew a supportproject existed in their area but chose to access itonly after realising that their complaint was notbeing taken seriously by the statutory agencies firstreported to:

A friend of mine told me about them but I did not goto see them until I had a support pack from thecouncil and there was a card in the pack. I rang them[the support project] because the man in the councilwas not listening to me.

In many cases, knowing that the local projectwas involved often compelled local agencies to takeaction where before they had ignored the clients’complaint.

Information that a racist harassment supportproject exists can come from a variety of sourcesand situations:

It was my mum that gave me the number of thesupport group.

I was suspended from my work and so I startedgoing on courses to pass the time and at a course ice-breaker I mentioned the problems I was having as areason for being on the training. Someone said Ishould go to an organisation called BRAMU.

5 Impact of racist harassment support

projects

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I saw a sign of SARI and I went in and told them whatwas happening.

Sometimes, people find out about the existenceof a support project through publicity relating to itsactivities in a local area:

In 1996 I had heard about a demonstration the NMPwere organising in the paper. I got in touch with themand since 1996 they have been involved andresponded to the police’s lack of action.

Most support projects get involved in localevents to advertise their project to local people.This can include health fairs, summer events inlocal parks, campaigns against injustice and publicdemonstrations that often attract media attention.All of these are used as vehicles to raise awarenessof the existence of a project in its local area and theservices it offers.

People who may be in need of support projectsdo not always know they exist. Such projects,unlike services like the police, a housing office or achemist, are sometimes revealed to people in needonly when they are needed – they do not form partof the mental mapping of services and resourcesthat are available to people experiencing a problem:

I have lived in this area, near BRAMU, all my life, yet Ihave never heard of them.

The police asked me if I had contacted them [thesupport project], I said no. Do you realise theyexisted?, I said no.

In the process of help seeking, there is nostandard route of entry to the projects. Accessvaries depending on the types of knowledge andinformation available at a formal and informallevel. The formal routes to projects are directreferral from an agency to a project or relevantcontact information given to the potential client.The informal route can range fromrecommendations by friends, family and strangersor the victim finding the support project ‘byaccident’.

Empowerment

A central aim of the projects is to empower theclient of support projects. A managementcommittee member of a project commented:

We are here to basically empower the victim becausebeing a victim of any kind of violence is going toknock someone’s confidence. We can make apositive change. We can help to stop the feeling ofhelplessness. (Management committee worker)

Empowerment is a key theme that emergesfrom the interviews with people who have usedsupport services. It is about partnership workingbetween the caseworker and the client, and itexhibits itself in a variety of ways as the followingsuggests.

Non-judgemental approach

The support projects work with a range of clientswho come from diverse ethnic backgrounds andwho have a range of experience of racistharassment and discrimination. Clients enteringthe service and seeking help require anenvironment where they can be assured of aempathetic and non-judgemental hearing of theirexperiences and how they want to proceed with acomplaint:

SARI understood what I was saying. Me being white,I thought SARI was for blacks and Asians and Ithought, ‘they are not going to listen to me’ but theydid. They don’t judge you like the guy at the councildid because I was white.

They were very non-judgemental about the fact that Iwas complaining about black colleagues. They tookmy view and accepted it.

I could tell they understood what I was saying, theywere very human.

Focus of a dedicated agency

The expectation from victims is that they arebelieved, that they can validate their experience

29

Impact of racist harassment support projects

and be listened to, and that they can receive aresponse. This does not always happen whenvictims of racist harassment complain to agencieslike police, housing or even a school:

In 1996 my husband’s nose was broken in an attackby one of the perpetrators. Children have smashedour windows and the police say they cannot doanything because they are under age.

… she was only my housing officer for a matter ofabout six weeks after I first notified them before shemoved on and they didn’t replace her straightaway,so every time I went to the council to say ‘this iswhat’s happened since, this is what has happenednow’, I would have to speak to a different housingofficer, so there was no continuity whatsoever. Thatwas a big frustration that, every time I went in thereto complain or tell them about something, I’d have tostart right from the beginning and it was draining. Ican’t say that housing were brilliant because therewas lack of continuity and that’s the most that youneed at that time is continuous understanding andsupport from beginning to end.

Continuity was offered by support projects:

I had a caseworker but even if she was not availablethey [the project] knew about my case.

Agencies by virtue of their position oftenrespond in a fragmented way to victims. Supportprojects, however, have caseworkers whoseprimary role is to work with victims of racistharassment and offer them ‘continuousunderstanding and support’. It is this level ofintense intervention and casework experience thatsets support projects apart from other agencieswhere complaints can be made to:

She [caseworker] gave me the impression she knewwhat she was talking about. She knew how I felt, youknow, what prejudice is like, you know, how much itpains. It was the first time I felt somebody waslistening, somebody that was taking it in.

They were different to the police, there was just adifferent understanding in that they were dealing withcases like this every single day and so theunderstanding that was there took on a different levelbecause there was the compassion. The policeprobably come across racial harassment in dribs anddrabs.

Dealing with cases of racist harassment on adaily basis and supporting clients gives supportprojects the ability to become experts at managingthe complaints they receive in a sensitive andempathetic manner. This is a primary function ofthe caseworker. They exclusively represent theclient of their service and not another agency orindividuals. The function of agencies such as thepolice and housing is different because they haveother general duties and organisational constraints.For example, a housing agency will always have toconsider the needs and accounts of perpetratorswho are tenants.

Promoting rights

Support projects and their caseworkers have learntthat they cannot always solve the problem thatclients may be experiencing. However, they canbetter equip them with information about what todo and what questions to ask when dealing withother agencies or furthering a complaint. This wasillustrated through frequent references to the rightsof those who had experienced racist harassment:

But you know, not once, I’ve been thinking about itsince, not once has anybody sat down and said tome, well these are your rights. But BRAMU told me.I’ve taken notice of everything they told me.

Once the NMP got involved we have learned aboutour rights – the police would say we cannot do this orthat – NMP said they were wrong. The NMP gave usthe right information for us.

The focus on rights is a response from supportprojects who have seen or been told by their clientshow their rights have been abused. This is a key

30


reason why some projects have published cardsthat offer information on people’s rights if they arearrested or experience racist harassment.

Signposting

Support projects will signpost their clients torelevant agencies:

They were very helpful. The first time I spoke to her[caseworker] she immediately put me in touch with asolicitor and suggested other contacts.

Providing appropriate information to clientsabout who else could help them empowers thosepeople to make informed decisions about whatthey want to do and raises their awareness aboutwhat is expected from other agencies.

Emotional support

Support projects and caseworkers aim to empowertheir clients to be able to advocate for themselves.However, at the first point of contact with a client,caseworkers often have to deal with the emotionalconsequences of racist harassment and in manycases the lack of action/understanding from otheragencies:

I knew that I was just very unhappy, very concernedfor my kids, very stressed out and not at all well so Icouldn’t have done all of that fighting on my own.They did all the fighting for me to get what I neededat that time and to have someone, you know, thepolice couldn’t have done it, housing couldn’t havedone it. So, you know, they are an organisation that isextremely valued just for that.

The worker saw how depressed my mum was andhow her health deteriorated because of theharassment but they picked her up and talked to heron a one-to-one basis and in Punjabi as well. Theproject is really friendly and understanding.

I feel there is someone who takes care of me in thisparticular case, the police can’t do everything, theycan’t rebuild your confidence.

She just rang because the last time I had spoken toher I was very upset down the phone. They reallyhelped because it was support, you know, I have gotfriends but it was like she was there, looking out forme.

The emotional and casework support offered toclients has a consequence on caseworkers. Theyhighlighted the frustrations and emotions they feltin undertaking casework. For caseworkers, offeringan effective service to their clients meant theseparation between work and personal space wasconfused. A large number of caseworkers workedbeyond the standard hours and many workedweekends. The intensity of client support andcasework was emotionally draining andcaseworkers commented that their needs wereoften overlooked within the projects.

Caseworkers said that they had no access tocounselling for themselves, there was limitedmanagement support to deal with the range ofemotions they experienced and felt, often their ownsafety in the field was not assessed, and they hadno or very limited contact with other caseworkersfrom across the country. It seems, in providing anemotional buffer to clients, the emotional bufferthat caseworkers need is lacking. NMP aims to dealwith caseworker burnout by recruiting caseworkerson a two-year cycle and the caseworkers leavingthe project are invited to join the managementcommittee, to maintain continuity and offerexpertise to new caseworkers. This regular‘regeneration’ of NMP offers a limited solution tosome of the needs of caseworkers.

Advocacy

Caseworkers often have to act as advocates for theclient. Again, because of the nature of the work theprojects undertake, they are in a unique position tooffer knowledge and information, and respond tothe needs of the client:

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They knew the organisations to contact, they knewwhat kind of support I needed. I didn’t know at thatstage what kind of support was even on offer letalone what I needed.

He [the caseworker] did everything for me. Hecommunicated with the Asylum Seeker Support Unit,with Victim Support and a counsellor. He tried tocommunicate with so many people and helped torehouse me.

Clients entering a support project usually getthe time and space to tell their story, are listened toand are asked what they want to see happen andwhat they would like from the project. In this sense,the caseworker begins to share the burden of theirexperience and can begin to develop a plan ofaction that is clearly communicated and agreedwith the client they are representing.

Accessibility

Many of the people interviewed talked about howthey felt confident that they could ring the supportproject and get a response or some action relatingto their complaint:

They said I could ring them when I wanted to. I canremember her [the caseworker] ringing me on aSunday.

We have the confidence to know that we can ring 24hours and we have never been let down.

The level of reassurance and support thatprojects provide enables clients to feel confident inpursuing their complaint and challenging thebehaviour of the perpetrators:

Anytime we wanted her [the caseworker] to comeshe would, even the day before court she came and Isaid ‘just go through the notes with me’ and she didthat.

What they actually did was good, I think they actuallybuilt more confidence in us. And they actually told uslike, you know, these people can’t get away with it.

We basically had to make a stand and I think theyhelped us do that.

After-care

Projects will not close a case without either thepermission of the client or, if after a time lapse therehas been no contact made with the project, by theclient. Some of the projects (where appropriate) willalso keep both clients and ex-clients informed ofannual general meetings:

Somebody rang from the project and asked if I wasokay after I moved into the new house. He said Icould ring anytime there was a problem and asked ifit was okay to close my file – they asked mypermission to close my file.

As a consequence of such close contact withclients and ex-clients, it has been known for clientsto offer their services as volunteers or join themanagement committee of a project. Thus, theexpertise gathered as a client is put back into theproject to help others.

Validation

Projects provide a range of services, one of which isdefined as ‘offering support’. In the interviews withclients and ex-clients of the projects, support wasmentioned on numerous occasions. Support isoften less about receiving information or advicethan about being listened to and heard, and abouthaving an experience validated:

It was nice to have that support if you like. It was niceto have somebody to listen and not butt in and tell me‘No, no that’s not right’, you know, and actually givingme an unbiased view if you like. They listened to mewhether I was the one that was telling the truth ornot. It wasn’t an issue at that point. They were justlistening to me and seeing what I had to say.

Validation of an experience is crucial to therelationship that develops between a client(s) andthe project. Although the projects cannot alwayshelp to resolve the problem of racist victimisation

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that the individual or family may be experiencing,the relationship that develops between the twoparties is often based on the client knowing thatthey are believed and understood – that they havea valid claim or grievance.

Reducing and preventing racist harassment

Even though, in many of the interviews, it wasclear that the racist harassment was continuing andcaseworkers felt that they only ‘apply stickingplasters after the event’, the projects still had animportant role to play with their clients and thelocal communities:

We get our strength from the NMP, but we want tosee this harassment end. We have done nothingwrong, why should we close our business.

Caseworkers and management committeemembers recognise their role is often managingand reducing the problem of racist harassmenteven though they may not be able to stop it:

I think we prevent escalation of problems becausepeople can come here and sound off and as theirrepresentatives we can go out to represent them. Wecan go out to the police and try to diffuse tensionsand explain how local people are feeling.(Caseworker)

Support projects facilitate local people and theirclients to vent anger. They also work withcommunities to develop strategies to reduce orprevent racist harassment and make agenciesaccountable for their actions:

In terms of the community we have brought adifferent level of understanding and a way in whichcommunities can organise themselves and takeresponsibility in their own right for how they will dealwith racism and racial harassment. I think the corething is to say to communities we can work, we canco-operate as partners, we can develop strategiesaround how the communities address theseproblems. (Management committee member)

Improving the service

Clients and ex-clients felt that the support projectsoffered a valuable service both to them and to thecommunity the projects are based in. The areas ofimprovement most cited were a reduction incaseload, more caseworkers, more funding andbetter offices for the projects. Managementcommittee members and caseworkers corroboratedall of these areas of improvement; however, theyalso felt that better partnership working withagencies was a crucial aspect to the support projectimproving its service to clients.

Reducing caseload and increasing caseworkers

In all of the interviews, there was no negativecriticism of the representation the caseworkersoffered, although it was often mentioned that itseemed that the caseworkers were very busy andmanaging a large number of cases – a cause forconcern for mangers, caseworkers andmanagement committees:

They have been a big help but they have too manycases and are overloaded with work so they don’tfunction as well as they could.

Their caseload should be about 25 but you have gotthem managing 50–80 cases a month. We try toencourage caseworkers to close cases or seek areferral. (Management committee member)

However, seeking a referral usually depends onthe referred agency being able to deal sensitivelyand empower the client. Many clients access asupport project after a lack of action from agenciesand want the project to advocate on their behalf. Areferral back to these agencies is likely to beresisted by the clients accessing support projects.

The number of cases a caseworker can take oncan depend on the complexity of cases. Often, it isnot only about the number but also about theintensity and severity of the cases:

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There have been some very messy cases that takeup a huge amount of time and we have toacknowledge, with a small project, if we get tied upwith two or three difficult cases, your whole capacityto do casework is drastically reduced.(Management committee member)

Partnership with agencies

Clients and ex-clients felt that a large andincreasing caseload could be resolved throughrecruiting more caseworkers. Although projectssaid they needed more caseworkers, they offeredan alternative view:

We could say we’d like more caseworkers but youknow that might not happen so you have got to lookfor alternatives and one of them is proper partnershipwork with agencies.(Management committee member)

Many of the support projects have excellentlinks with a range of agencies:

We have good relations with the police and otheragencies and because of that we can represent ourusers. So, rather than an us and them, people canwork with us at an inter-agency level. This makes ahuge difference because you really get to know thepeople involved, you know the ones who are going tobe involved in cases.(Management committee member)

These good relations do help in the day-to-daymanagement of cases and the type of response anagency will make. However, such relations do notreduce the workload of the caseworkers becausethe agencies are not developed to support victimsof racist harassment in the same manner as supportprojects are.

Support projects would benefit, it seems, from amore concrete working relationship with agencies,particularly at the multi-agency level whendifferent agencies are brought together to co-ordinate an effective response with and for theclient:

… a multi-agency response aims to combine theefforts of different agencies to assist the victims ofracial harassment. (Caseworker)

But it would seem that all of this is predicatedon agencies and the support projects recognisingand being clear about when their involvement in acase starts and finishes, and what responsibilitythey have:

We have to look for proper partnership work andestablish who owns which case. I think there can bea tendency for a support project to work through thewhole of the case when probably the involvement ofother agencies to take ownership is absolutely key.(Management committee member)

There is a tension evident between what theclient wants from a service intervention and howsome caseworkers feel agencies should respond toracist harassment:

Agencies should develop so they don’t have to refervictims to us. (Caseworker)

It is because clients receive a dedicated serviceaimed at attempting to resolve their complaint thatthey view the projects and the caseworkintervention positively. Mainstreaming caseworkmay not be what the clients and potential clients ofthe support projects want.

Funding and facilities

They need more funding. They did more for me in thetwo meetings I had with the caseworker thananybody else. They were extremely helpful.

Clients and ex-clients could see the value of theprojects in relation to the problems they hadexperienced but were often aware that theresources of the projects were stretched. In anumber of interviews, clients of the projectsmentioned not taking up too much time of thecaseworker and often volunteering to go to theproject office for a meeting rather than the

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caseworker coming to them to save the project timeand money.

Management committee members andcaseworkers felt that the short-term nature offunding and sometimes the absence of funding, thestress of too much casework, inadequate officespace and poor state of the buildings whereprojects were based, did not reduce the service orcommitment of the projects:

I have shadowed the caseworkers and saw the workthey did in terms of keep going out to visit clients,liaising with the family, trying to set up meetings withthe different agencies and trying to secure a responsefrom them. The average person is not going to knowthe avenues to pursue but with an organisation likethis they are going to try to help and make a changefor that client. (Management committee member)

My guess is that individual clients would say that theyget an excellent service and could not have copedwithout it. (Management committee member)

The project has raised the issue of racial awarenessand race issues in our area, especially with keyagencies. (Caseworker)

Summary

Clients and ex-clients were extremely positiveabout the level of service they received from theprojects and caseworkers, regardless of whether theactual problems had been resolved or wereongoing. The response from both the projects andcaseworkers enabled the client to address theproblem they were experiencing from an informedposition, within which they were given a range ofoptions. However, some caseworkers felt that thework they undertook could often be overlookedbecause of the diverse activities many of theprojects were involved in. It was felt that projectsand agencies needed to remember that casework isa crucial aspect of the work of the support projects:

… without casework there would be no projects.(Caseworker)

The following chapter develops on thesentiment above and identifies the potential of thesupport projects. The potential of the projects is asmuch about strengthening casework and meetingthe needs of caseworkers as it is about ensuringadequate funding and developing new ways ofsupporting and responding to victims of racistharassment.

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Introduction

In highlighting national good practice to challengeracist harassment, Lemos (2000, p. 48) noted thatsupport services for victims were in short supply.Their conclusion was that a support service forvictims is more likely to be in areas where there is aspecialist agency working on racist harassment.This current research offers an insight into whatsuch ‘specialist agencies’ do, how they work withtheir clients and the impact of this work. Thischapter aims to bring together the findings fromthe research and identify what the national andlocal policy implications of the research are.

Key features of support projects

The support projects provide a range of services toagencies, communities and victims of racistharassment in local areas. They offer a unique anddedicated service that aims to ensure their clientshave appropriate information to progress acomplaint. Casework intervention is processorientated in that projects do not promise that theycan end the racist harassment their client may beexperiencing but can guide and support peoplethrough a complaint procedure which ofteninvolves challenging agencies. Box 3 identifies keyfeature of the support projects.

6 Potential of racist harassment support

projects

and education, and the broad range ofwhat constitutes a racist incident.

• Respond to changing priorities,communities and need in their areas. Forexample, outreach work with peopleseeking asylum and refuge.

• Offer their expertise and influence in thecommunity to a range of agencies.

• Act as a voice for community frustrationthat can avert disorder in localcommunities.

• Act as a pressure group within theirlocalities to press for change in local policyand practice in dealing with racistharassment, campaigns againstmiscarriages of justice and promotingcommunity cohesion.

• Undertake community development andeducational work with young people toraise awareness of and prevent racistbehaviour.

• Be involved in third-party reportingcentres.

• Encourage volunteering.• Encourage reporting of racist incidents.

Box 3 Key features of the support projects

• Offer a dedicated, unique and continuousservice to the victims of racist harassmentin their localities and beyond – empowerclients through casework.

• Work with a range of agencies to achieve asolution for the client.

• Offer their services to all communities andrespond to a range of cases coveringemployment, housing, police harassment

(continued)

Responding to and validating racist experiences

Chahal and Julienne (1999) found that theexperience of racist harassment was questioned,often disputed and generally misunderstood byagencies, and that the ‘victim’s perspective’ was thefirst perspective to be lost in the complaintprocedure of an agency. This current research offersevidence to suggest that caseworkers withinprojects are able to provide a service to clients thattakes into account the experience and perspectiveof those people experiencing racist harassment. Theprojects are able to validate experiences of peopleand offer a route to some resolution. Projects do notsay they can end the racist harassment that

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individuals and families experience but can offerassistance, knowledge, guidance, reassurance andrepresentation through process-focused casework.

Chahal and Julienne (1999) found that peopleexperiencing racist harassment had to resort totheir own resources for support, often because theyfelt isolated and overwhelmed by the task ofprocessing a complaint through a variety ofagencies. However, the current research shows that,where victims have received an intervention from asupport project, the sense of isolation was reducedand many of the needs of the victim were met.Caseworkers and the projects have made adifference to the quality of life of their clients, asone ex-client observed:

People would be lost without the support group. Theywould have to perhaps rely on themselves and goinwards, which isn’t such a good thing.

Support projects are distinguished from agency-led interventions in that they can offer a co-ordinated and dedicated service to their client. Theresponse from agencies can often be fragmentedbecause their primary role is not to support oradvise the victim.

Caseworkers challenge racist oppressionthrough a process of empowerment rather thanchallenging racism per se. However, thecommitment of staff, volunteers and managementcommittees to effect change within their local areahas to be set against regular funding crises,particularly in funding caseworkers, poor officeaccommodation, minimum administrative support,agency inertia and casework overload.

The projects often challenge emotive anduncomfortable issues, for example, policeharassment and deaths in custody. They havegrown out of a gap in both service provision forvictims of racist harassment and challenging theresponse and practice of agencies. In this sense,projects are a public good because they are workingtowards community cohesion and developingcommunity safety strategies. Their place in the

wider public policy agenda of challenging crimeand disorder makes them central players in localpolicy formation and practice-based work.

Strengthening the sector

The support projects are part of a sector that offersa service to victims of crime and the communitiesand agencies where these victims live. Thediscussion below aims to identify how the sector asa whole can be strengthened.

Funding

Clients, staff of the projects and managementcommittee members were concerned by thefunding crises that projects experience and theirneed for sustained funding. The Stephen LawrenceInquiry identified that there was work to be doneto enable an adequate response to the victims ofracist harassment and questioned why funding forcommunity projects challenging racist harassmentwas short term and often withdrawn when suchprojects seemed to be acting in a confrontationalmanner (Macpherson, 1999, p. 314). Often this‘confrontation’ is because of how a local authorityis seen to be responding to racist harassment.

The issue of funding and influence of supportprojects is sensitive. Support projects, by the natureof their work, are ‘political’ regardless of thefunding source. The bureaucracy of monitoringracist harassment cases, training and raisingawareness of agencies and limited school-basedwork can sometimes detract from casework as anactivity which has political relevance in localcommunities. A number of projects commentedthat it is through casework that campaigns and thechallenge to agencies about their practice stem.Further, it is through casework that individuals areempowered and offered knowledge about theirrights. Casework also has the potential to effectchange in local communities through mediationand conflict-resolution work with perpetrators andpotential perpetrators and their families.

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Potential of racist harassment support projects

Withdrawal of funding to projects that arecritical of how agencies are operating is essentiallya strategy to close the project. The consequence oflimiting or stopping funding means that casework,empowerment of local people and challengingoppression decreases or stops altogether. However,as has been seen in the cases where this hashappened, projects have survived because theircommitment is to a greater public good. Evenwhere funding has ended and not been withdrawn,the projects survive. SARI staff, for example, agreedcollectively to forgo the annual salary incrementrather than be forced to let staff go. This strategyenabled the project to both retain valued andexperienced staff and allow time to seek newfunding. The resolve, resilience and commitment ofthe workers in these projects cannot beunderstated.

Given the importance and relevance of supportprojects to local community safety issues andcommunity cohesion, the provision of support tothe victims of racist harassment and multi-agencywork, it is vital to ensure adequate funding for theprojects. It is important to enable projects tomaintain a core staff that are able to undertakecasework. Often, it is the casework element that islost when funding is reduced or cut completely.

Projects access funding through a variety oflocal and national sources, for example ComicRelief, regeneration initiatives, Community Fundand charitable trusts. However, a direct centralgovernment commitment to funding localcommunity-based initiatives, particularlycaseworkers, should be explored. Such a fundcould be developed and administered throughgovernment offices in the regions, and could haveattached to it a process and outcome evaluation ofhow victims and communities have benefited as adirect consequence of the project and its casework.

National network of caseworkers

The research found the support needs ofcaseworkers are often overlooked. They havemultiple roles acting as advocates, advisers,offering emotional and practical support as well asworking with external agencies to develop a multi-agency response to a complaint. The caseworkers inthe research said they would benefit from anational network of caseworkers. The networkwould, for example, act as a co-ordinating bodythat responds to the effective development andundertaking of casework, and as a peer support forcaseworkers. It would also develop and offer newmethods of working, disseminate nationalinformation on victims’ rights and develop trainingand courses for caseworkers.

National guidelines on racist harassment

casework

National guidelines on casework should bedeveloped. The role and methods of casework, therole of volunteers, befriending, and other areas ofsupport, models and theories of casework shouldbe identified. The guidelines would identify goodpractice in casework and be applicable across arange of organisations.

National accredited qualification for caseworkers

An accredited qualification for racist harassmentcaseworkers or those interested in working withvictims of racist harassment should be developedand was recognised as a need by the supportprojects. The qualification should tie learning intothe above guidelines but also provide caseworkerswith skills development in, for example, legalremedies, mediation and negotiation, basiccounselling, listening and note taking, anddeveloping action plans with their clients. It shouldaim to improve the quality of responses tocasework by being measurable across a set oflearned standards.

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Counselling support for caseworkers

An essential part of supporting caseworkers is toensure that they have access to appropriatecounselling support if required. All caseworkerssaid that having access to a counsellor would helpthem resolve and manage many feelings that cameup for them. However, such support is not offered,nor is it part of current costing in the budgets ofprojects. This needs to change. Caseworkers shouldhave access to counsellors in the area where theywork and funding for this should be part of theoverall cost of the project.

Improving casework practice

A number of recommendations relating tocasework practice were outlined in Chapter 4. Twoaspects in particular, though, are worthy of morestrategic consideration. The first relates tocounselling, the second to working with childrenand young people.

As with caseworkers themselves, there appearsto be little consideration of the role that counsellingcould play in supporting victims. Not all clients areoffered access or even information about theservice of a counsellor. This needs to become partof the information giving by caseworkers to clients.Recent research (Netto et al., 2001) has found thatawareness of counselling among South Asianpeople who had not used the service was low,although all were experiencing stress, anxiety anddepression. The research further found that, whenthey were informed about the nature of the service,many felt it would be useful since informal supportavailable to them was limited. In cases of racistharassment, people often talk about the isolationand lack of support that is available to them.Counselling could offer some extra support andvalidation, and enable people to manage a negativelife experience. Projects need to develop links withlocal counselling services and could offer trainingon racist harassment to counsellors.

Second, Chahal and Julienne (1999) found thatchildren who experience racist harassment

exhibited physical and emotional symptoms, forexample, bed wetting, feeling afraid, loss of self-esteem, which may require an intervention (forexample, counselling, sustained casework support).There was little evidence that projects are equippedto deal with supporting and working with childrenand young people who are the victims of racistharassment. Although some projects do offer aservice to young people through a youth oreducation worker, casework intervention wasprimarily adult based. This area of work needs tobe expanded and standards explored and set inhow the projects work with children and youngpeople.

Building local coalitions of support

Finally, this research found that support projects donot on the whole involve themselves in workingdirectly with perpetrators because their primaryfocus is to support victims. Projects would,however, say they work with perpetrators orpotential perpetrators indirectly through schools-based and youth projects. However, given thegeneral difficulties involved in gaining access toschools and the limited time that projects can spendworking with young people, it is difficult to assessthe success of such a strategy. Although theseinitiatives raise the issue of racism, they do notnecessarily prevent it.

Given that most racist harassment occurs in andaround the home and is largely perpetrated byyoung people, there is a need to undertakesustained work with local people to reduceprejudice and develop meaningful methods ofconflict resolution. A report by NACRO (1999)suggests that mediation works and is valued byvictims. Support projects are well positioned to beinvolved and even to develop these functions inpartnership with other agencies, local communitiesand their clients.

Chahal and Julienne (1999) showed that peoplesuffering racist harassment readily disclosed to

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Potential of racist harassment support projects

their relatives and friends. However, althoughsome of the people disclosed to offered help andassistance, many did not, which increased the senseof isolation experienced by victims. In the currentresearch, it is evident that caseworkers were onoccasion able to fill the sense of isolation via atelephone call or a visit. However, the emotionalsupport they provide is difficult to offer on a dailybasis because of the competing demands of theirwork and caseload.

Projects could usefully engage those familiarpeople to whom victims disclose as a network ofsupport. This would, first, have the effect ofmobilising friends and family in the local area (orfurther afield), and would, second, offer thosesuffering racist harassment much needed regularcontact, which cannot always be provided by asupport project and which goes beyond the type ofshort-term contact a befriending scheme couldoffer. Building local support networks has theadvantage of offering a community-based approachto victim support, where the victim is supported bylocal people who are known to them.

NMP launched a pilot befriending scheme totackle isolation caused by continuous racistharassment. The scheme uses volunteers who aretrained with counselling skills to give specificsupport in times of intense stress such as courtvisits. The aim of the scheme is to offer supportover a two to six month period. Although this

initiative is to be commended, the current researchsuggests that, alongside this type of befriendingscheme, support could be developed from withinthe victim’s familiar networks and projects couldcapacity build ex-clients or existing clients to offeran outreach support service.

At present, the role of projects is fundamentallytied into supporting victims of racist harassment.This offers a much needed and highly valued‘sticking plaster’ but, if projects are to adopt astronger role in tackling racist harassment as a formof community violence, casework is unlikely toachieve this on its own. The victim, theperpetrator(s) and the community are interlinkedand require an effective intervention thatrecognises this context.

Projects should therefore consider working withvictims and agencies to identify who the alliesmight be within a neighbourhood and withinfamiliar networks to create a coalition of support,develop conflict-resolution strategies, instigateawareness-raising campaigns and identify long-term prevention strategies in local communities. Acommunity-based approach to violence preventionhas the ability to impact the entire socialenvironment (McElhaney and Effley, 1999), for asone client observed:

The ones that live around us are not all racist, there’sonly a small group that are racist. It’s not like thewhole community is racist, they are not all against us.

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