contextual safeguarding - an introduction and the role of
TRANSCRIPT
CONTEXTUAL SAFEGUARDING
AN INTRODUCTION AND THE ROLE OF COUNCILS
CARLENE FIRMIN, PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL WORK, DURHAM UNIVERSITY
OVER THE COURSE OF THIS PRESENTATION, I WILL:
Introduce Contextual Safeguarding
Summarise learning from test sites
Identify key opportunities for councils
CONTEXTUAL
SAFEGUARDING WAS
DEVELOPED FROM
THREE KEY AREAS
OF RESEARCH
AREA 1: RESEARCH INTO ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
‘Risk’ and motivation
for ‘thrills’Short term gains
Emotional regulation Increasing desire for
autonomy
AREA 2: THE CONTEXTUAL DYNAMICS OF EXTRA-FAMILIAL
HARM
Neighbourhood
School
Peer Group
Home
Child
Street-based victimisation Public criminal exploitation routes and spaces for groomingSexual harm in parks, shopping centres
BullyingHarassment and assaultsPeer recruitment
Peer association to intimate partner violencePeer group offendingPeer disclosure
Domestic abuseVictimisation with siblingsNeglectLimited parental capacity
AREA 3: THE
MISMATCH…
Extra-familial issues presented a risk of significant harm to the welfare of
children and young people
Child protection systems, and social workers, have been called upon to
respond
Those systems sometimes assessed and intervened with young people
affected by this harm, and their parents, or ended support as parents were
protective
The peer groups, schools and public spaces where the harm occurred
remained unsafe (despite successful prosecutions)
The response and the risk were misaligned
‘if you’re rude to them then they’ll
beat you up and I’ve seen how they
beat up people, how everyone’s
scared of them.…I said no for
something very little I’ve been beaten
up and bottled and I realised if I did
say no what would happen…I was
pressurised and scared, I knew deep
down I didn’t want it cos I was still
young but I didn’t have a choice.’
(Sara’s (age 13) Witness Testimony,
Case File 4, Review 2011-2014)
‘Social services and other professionals describe her as ‘difficult to
engage with’, ‘anti-police’ someone who ‘places her friends and gang
associates as a higher importance than her family’’
(Professional notes, Case File 4, Review 2011-204)
THE CONTEXTUAL SAFEGUARDING FRAMEWORK
Domain 1: Target
Seeks to prevent, identify, assess and intervene with the
social conditions of abuse
Domain 2: Legislative framework
Incorporate extra-familial contexts into child protection
frameworks
Domain 3: Partnerships
Develop partnerships with sectors/individuals who are responsible for the nature of
extra-familial contexts
Domain 4: Outcomes measurement
Monitor outcomes of success in relation to contextual, as well as individual, change
UNDERPINNED BY
A CORE SET OF
VALUES
Collaborative
Rights-based
Ecological
Strengths-based
Rooted in young people’s lived reality
A RANGE OF LOCAL AREAS AND NATIONAL STRUCTURES ARE
EXPLORING HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS FRAMEWORK
Strategic groups have formed to consider the implications for policy, research and commissioning
UK Advisory Panel (LGA
attends)
Academics Network
VCS collective
54 local areas in England, Wales (4) and Scotland have committed to a CS approach
Nine regional groups in England
Groups in Wales and Scotland
25 meet as a UK implementation group
They meet four times a year with UoB
10 are formal test sites involving the CS team
TYPES OF COUNCIL SERVICES THAT HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN
TESTING CONTEXTUAL SAFEGUARDING APPROACHES
Housing
Licencing
Waste management services
Public realm services
Local councillors
Libraries
Parks and play areas
Bus shelters and transport
District-level meetings on public safety and wider community concerns such as litter
LEARNING FROM
IMPLEMENTATION:
‘EVERYBODY’S
RESPONSIBILITY’
Moving from: It’s everybody’s responsibility to share information and
make referrals
Towards: It’s everybody’s responsibility to create safe spaces for, and
safety around, young people
LEARNING FROM
IMPLEMENTATION:
CS IS USED AT TWO
LEVELS
LEVEL 1:
ASSESSMENT
LEVEL 2:
ASSESSMENT
BROUGHT TOGETHER TO BUILD SAFETY AROUND
YOUNG PEOPLE AT RISK OF SIGNIFICANT HARM
Neighbourhood and community safeguarding
• One young man had been stabbed in a location already associated with
violence
• Safeguarding assessment of the area initiated – resident engagement,
mapping, business surveys
• Assessment considered at a safeguarding meeting
• Estate based parental support groups
• Community guardianship, property re-design and detached youth work
planned
• Young person remained at home
ASSESSING
RESPONSES
AGAINST THE
CONTEXTUAL
SAFEGUARDING
FRAMEWORK
Numerous young people are identified by the police and schools as carrying and
selling drugs in and around a local fast food restaurant. In response the restaurant
disables its WiFi connection.
Young people stop spending time at the fast food restaurant and instead start to
spend time at the library – sometimes up to 80 young people after school. Complaints
of anti-social behaviour in and around the library increase. There is a concern that
young people are using and selling drugs in and around the library and that some
unsafe adults have been seen approaching young people in the library space. Some
fights have also broken out in the library. The library seeks help from the local
authority and the police about what they should do
RESPONDING IN LINE WITH THE CS
FRAMEWORK
Response: Pop-up youth club in the library to co-create ideas with young
people. Training for library staff on bystander intervention and adolescent
development. 1:1 support for a small number of young people from
substance misuse service
Practitioner Reflection: ‘…responding to young people in this situation
through a contextual safeguarding lens… led to a decrease in anti-social
behaviour and helped to form a stronger relationship between the young
people and the library staff, ultimately, creating a safer space for young
people to socialise. This in turn has had a longer impact on safeguarding
young people engaging in this space….
Domain 4
Outcomes
Domain 1
Target
Domain 3
PartnershipsDomain 2
Welfare
RESPONDING IN LINE WITH THE CS
VALUES
Response: Pop-up youth club in the library to co-create ideas with young
people. Training for library staff on bystander intervention and adolescent
development. 1:1 support for a small number of young people from substance
misuse service
Practitioner Reflection: ‘…responding to young people in this situation through
a contextual safeguarding lens… led to a decrease in anti-social behaviour and
helped to form a stronger relationship between the young people and the
library staff, ultimately, creating a safer space for young people to
socialise. This in turn has had a longer impact on safeguarding young people
engaging in this space….
Strengths
Ecological
Collaboration
Evidence
informed
Rights
QUESTIONS THAT STILL NEED RESOLUTION
How can we best align community safety and social care responses to
individuals, groups and contexts?
What are the thresholds for responding to contexts to ensure proportionality
and ethical practice?
What is the approach to individual cases where harm is significant, but
parents are protective?
How do we build consistent ways to measure contextual impact so that this
can be considered when services are commissioned?
KEY IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNCILS
Ensuring all staff understand how they contribute to make a place safer is a critical first step in safeguarding young people
A range of council services can change the nature of the spaces where young people spend their time
How young people are perceived by councillors and residents is critical to their safety
Ensuring that consideration for identifying and responding to locations is integrated across various council policy documents – for example in housing, waste management, licencing
You need a strategic oversight of where young people feel safe and unsafe in your area –official stats will only tell you part of the picture
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
Ensure all areas of the council are fully briefed on the approach and know what their role could be
1
Individuals can join the Contextual Safeguarding Practitioners network
2
Areas can join the Local Area Interest Network– has your area done this?
3
Identify local arrangements for responding to locations/groups –this will help others know what to do
4
