A mother's story

"As the mother of a teenage son who is involved with gangs, I had a lot of concerns and experiences that I wanted to share so I agreed to take part in one of the focus groups for the 'Female Voice in Violence' project. 

My son is often in and around gangs and I fear for his life almost on a daily basis. I find it a very difficult subject to discuss, particularly with the police, youth offending teams and similar agencies as I get the impression that they don't really care or understand what we are going through and that we are stigmatisedby them.  However, Carlene and the Race On The Agenda team really seemed to understand and genuinely care and more importantly I felt that that they wanted to help us and our children who are involved, often reluctantly, in gangs. 

Some of the issues raised by Carlene and panel members were issues that some of us had not considered before which allowed us to question some of our assumptions, to consider other perspectives and to learn from each other. 

We all felt that it had been a useful and positive experience and it was refreshing to be given the opportunity to have my voice heard."

Race On The Agenda (ROTA) is a social policy think tank and for its Female Voice in Violence interviewed over 300 women and girls from across London in a bid to make evidence-based regional policy recommendations that will improve services. Hearing directly from those affected has made a significant impact on the tone of the recommendations and the strength of the evidence base, while also giving communities to a say in how their needs are met. It is funded by London Councils

_{*Photo posed by model.}