Our Work This Quarter
Founder and CEO
This quarter we have seemed seeped in risk assessment work! Abianda has continued working with Research in Practice and the University of Lancashire on the MOPAC-funded risk and needs project. We have heard directly from young women about what works and what does not work within statutory assessment processes.
We will share this learning as the project develops - initial insights chime with what we find in our work in how we understand concepts of risk and the assessment of it.
I am particularly interested in how we do risk assessments differently so they are useful for young women and capture their narrative accurately - so we really see young women in the complexity of harm, need, processes and assessments. A consistent theme through all our risk assessment work is how easily young women's narratives become lost - information being translated into categories and professional language, without retaining the meaning the young woman gave to it. The alienating impact of young women then struggling to recognise themselves in the assessment, or understand how it will lead to useful support.
I have really enjoyed working alongside colleagues at Agenda Alliance and Social Finance, supporting them to develop risk-assessment and safeguarding processes for bringing together young women from across London who have experiences of 'gang'-associated exploitation and violence.
Creating safe spaces of this kind takes rigour, planning and careful thought - a lot of 'what if' planning. Risk assessment is essential, but it must enable meaningful participation rather than shutting it down, or restricting diversity of voice and perspective. It must recognise potential volatility without defining young women only through risk. It must also respect what only young women know about relationships, places, group dynamics and their own safety. So much of my early learning on this issue came from work that Dr Camille Warrington and I did on projects such as this film making project, that was delivered in tandem with the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England's Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups (2013).
Abianda has contributed to the Metropolitan Police’s enquiry into so-called 'grooming gangs', and spoken with the London Victims’ Commissioner’s Office to support its input. Across these conversations, I have sought to ensure that the overlapping criminal and sexual exploitation of girls is recognised, and that public discussion does not become restricted by narrow, poorly-evidenced, and sometimes weaponised, accounts of how exploitation happens, who perpetrates it, or who is affected.
Other strategic safeguarding oversight discussions this quarter have reinforced the same concern. When a young woman is dealing with several interconnected forms of harm, her circumstances can seem ‘too much’ for systems organised around separate issues, thresholds and responsibilities. Complexity can lead to drift, repeated assessment and movement between services, without anyone holding a clear and consistent thread through her support. Questions about escalation have been key, which senior leader should be aware, at what point, and are they holding appropriate oversight to open doors to resource, joined up and/or specialist care.
This is one reason solution-focused practice remains so important to Abianda. It asks us to understand the young woman as a whole person. What does she want to change? What is she already doing to navigate her circumstances? Where does trust exist? What helps, even slightly? What is different in the times when things aren't as bad as usual? What strengths or protective strategies have been missed because professional attention has solely concentrated on behaviour, incidents and deficits?
Solution-focused practice does not reduce the responsibility of professionals or systems. It helps us build responses around the young woman’s knowledge, hopes and existing capabilities, while remaining clear about harm and the action others must take. It supports us being in partnership with her, and her voice being around the table.
Looking ahead
Big news... we have also started developing Abianda’s next strategy, beginning, as always, with our team. Our current strategy has focused on consolidation, strengthening our foundations and clarifying our practice. Of course, the highlight has been spending time with young women exploring what strategy means to them, and what they think Abianda needs to be doing next.
An emerging theme for our next period is continuing to “scale deep”. In social innovation literature, scaling deep describes changing relationships, values and ways of working, rather than measuring scale only through the number of people reached (Moore, Riddell and Vocisano, 2015). I am interested in what small thing we do locally, and really well, to have a lasting and deep impact.
For Abianda, I think this means deepening the quality of our direct work, strengthening participatory infrastructure and influencing how other organisations understand and respond to young women.
My feature piece in this newsletter explores the origins of our solution-focused approach and why it continues to provide such an important foundation for this work. And we have some lovely contributions from the team - bringing to life how they are using solution focused practice in their day to day work. Thanks for reading and your ongoing interest in our work.
References
BBC (2026) Britain’s Forgotten Girls. BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. Available at: BBC iPlayer.
Crime and Policing Act 2026, c.20. Available at: legislation.gov.uk.
Department for Education (2026) Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026: Summary of Changes. Available at: GOV.UK.
Home Office (2026a) Crime and Policing Act 2026. Available at: GOV.UK.
Moore, M-L., Riddell, D. and Vocisano, D. (2015) ‘Scaling Out, Scaling Up, Scaling Deep: Strategies of Non-profits in Advancing Systemic Social Innovation’, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 58, pp. 67–84. Available at: JSTOR.
Youth Endowment Fund (2026a) Beyond the Headlines 2026. Available at: Youth Endowment Fund.
Youth Endowment Fund (2026b) Policing, Children and Violence. Available at: Youth Endowment Fund.
