The Circles of Protection project, based at Islington Council, supports isolated, highly vulnerable people with learning disabilities who live outside their home borough of Islington.
The exposure of Winterbourne View showed the potential for the abuse of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities and mental health needs, who are isolated from communities. People placed in residential care outside the borough with statutory responsibility are particularly vulnerable, as they often have complex needs and may be challenging to work with; they frequently have no family involvement, and are placed in rural areas, where no one regularly goes into the service, except the staff. We now recognise that the isolation of these services fostered the environment that enabled the abuse to take place.
The project addresses the isolation of particularly vulnerable people with learning disabilities, by pairing them with local volunteers who regularly visit them in their home (care home). The intention is two-fold: to safeguard the service user against abuse, by being their ‘eyes and ears and voice’, and to enhance the quality of the service user’s life by offering the opportunity of building a friendship.
