Abuse Between Young People

Abuse through sexual image sharing in schools: Response and responsibility

“…Rather than viewing HSB as isolated incidents experienced or carried out by individuals, the research team utilised a contextual safeguarding model to broaden understanding of how harm manifests in different social fields -of which the school is one (Firmin 2017a).…”

From who … to where? A geographical approach to peer-on-peer sexual abuse

“…Beyond prevalence, what research into CSA indicates, is how peer-on-peer sexual abuse occurs in a range of places and that these locations influence how abuse manifests (Firmin 2017a). Considering this, the absence of geographical research in this area is surprising.…”

“…If situated agency is a way to consider the dimensions of agency young people employ, contextual safeguarding is a model in which to explore how policy makers and practitioners engage with those dimensions. Contextual safeguarding is an approach to addressing the extra-familial nature of adolescent risk and vulnerability (Firmin 2017a).…”

“…And while we might be questioning who this happens to (NSPCC 2018), it is time to ask bigger questions about where. In this article, I bring together a geographical model -situated agency (Panelli, Kraack, and Little 2005)-with a sociological model -contextual safeguarding (Firmin 2017a)-and apply these to explore child protection responses to peer-on-peer sexual abuse in the UK. I use this focus to argue that research and practice into peer-on-peer sexual abuse has developed through a narrow focus on individual children rather than harmful places.…”

Tackling Child Exploitation: E‐Learning Course by the Social Care Institute for Excellence in partnership with the NWG Network, London, 2018. Available together with purchase options: https://www.scie.org.uk/e‐learning/tackling‐child‐sexual‐exploitation

“…the police and/or children's social care) when necessary. This leaves less room for a more nuanced understanding of young people's participation in the safeguarding process, the need to build strong, trusting relationships (Lefevre et al ., ), the role of perpetrators and the importance of understanding the wider context of extrafamilial risk (Firmin, ). While it may be that considering contextual interventions is the next step (beyond the scope of this introductory training), it would have been helpful to see examples of interventions developed in the contexts where young people were exploited (e.g.…”