Child Protection Anxieties and the Formation of UK Child Welfare and Protection Practices

Abstract

The history of child protection in the UK has had little critical attention yet 21st century childhoods and child care practices in the UK have been significantly influenced by what has been termed as the 'child protection industry'. This paper argues that whilst statutory services have expanded then contracted, children's charities have remerged as the most influential voices that have shaped 21st century child protection policy and practice. A combination of the emphasis of risk to children and young people, and tragedies in which statutory services have had a part, has produced a 'toxic' culture of child protection in which Social Work with children and families seems to have lost its moral compass and its earlier emphasis on family support. Suspicion of parents and an emphasis on child rescue is now a dominant paradigm. Equally parents are suspicious of social workers.

Critical Child Protection Studies

“…The views of the parents in the consultation align with the research into parental involvement in child protection systems (Clapton 2020;Muench et al 2017).…”

“…Given that social policy is heavily influenced by public discourse, campaigning via media is a crucial part of any work for social change. This is especially relevant in the context of child protection, where the public discourse regarding parents is deeply stigmatizing and blaming (Clapton 2020;Featherstone et al 2018b). The report was also promoted through work with the social work press.…”

Bruises in Premobile Infants: A Contested Area of Research, Policy and Practice

“…A wide range of evidence shows that parents feel shamed, punished, powerless, and suffering injustice (e.g. Clapton, 2020 ; Davies, 2011 ; Dominelli et al ., 2011 ; Smithson & Gibson, 2017 ) and that this impacts the whole family. In Clapton’s ( 2020 , 18) on-line survey, parents also reported direct impacts on finances and relationships: … the survey has uncovered worlds where considerable amounts of time must be taken off work with the prospect of losing a job or a detriment to a career, lost partners, lost friends…, the inception of poor school–family relations…, neighbour hostility … and damage to members of wider family.…”

“…Clapton, 2020 ; Davies, 2011 ; Dominelli et al ., 2011 ; Smithson & Gibson, 2017 ) and that this impacts the whole family. In Clapton’s ( 2020 , 18) on-line survey, parents also reported direct impacts on finances and relationships: … the survey has uncovered worlds where considerable amounts of time must be taken off work with the prospect of losing a job or a detriment to a career, lost partners, lost friends…, the inception of poor school–family relations…, neighbour hostility … and damage to members of wider family. Our consultees were also concerned about the risks of iatrogenic harm done to their children through exposing them to a large number of x-ray examinations.…”

Contact between children absent in state care and their families: The parents’ perspective

“…There was little thought given to links with family for the first children that found themselves in care, usually provided by non-statutory agencies (Slade, 2010). Hendrick (2003) has commented that rescue and separation from the dissolute ways of the parents was the driving motivation, and we would contend that very little has changed in this respect in both Scotland and England (Clapton, 2020a). It could have been imagined that the emphasis on the maintenance of relationships heralded by the Children Act 1989 and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, s.17, the Guidance on Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 would have altered the dynamic in favour of parents and children keeping in touch; however, this has not been the experience of parents.…”