Contextual Safeguarding and Child Protection

Firmin, Carlene

doi:10.4324/9780429283314

Cited by 70 publications

(57 citation statements)

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“…Significant work is underway developing child protection assessment and intervention methods that can target the contexts where abuse happens (Firmin, 2020). 'Contextual safeguarding' is an approach to safeguarding adolescents grounded in Bourdieu's theory of social capital (Bourdieu, 1986).…”

Section: Social and Contextual Framework For Understanding And Respomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A contextual safeguarding approach requires the 'social conditions' of harm be included in child protection assessments and interventions, with a view to changing harmful contexts, not just the individuals navigating them. The 'contextual safeguarding' framework is currently being implemented in a number of local authorities across England and Wales and requires child protections systems to be able to target the social conditions of abuse, incorporate extra familial contexts in child protection legislative frameworks, utilise partnerships with individuals and organisations responsible for the spaces where young people spend their time, and measure contextual outcomes (for a full account see Firmin, 2020).…”

Section: Social and Contextual Framework For Understanding And Respomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One case worker suggested that resource could be better spent on developing a bespoke model of support that could work with and support friendships, families, and issues around debt (as an example) that impacted young people across the project. Viewing friendships and associations through the lens of safety and not risk, and locating these friendships and relationships in context, could support protective relationship work with young people (see also Firmin, 2020).…”

Section: (Project Staff Interview)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Young people involved in “county lines” are navigating a range of contexts often outside of the family home (Home Office, 2018; Hudek, 2018), with some exceptions (Moyle, 2019). Significant work is underway developing child protection assessment and intervention methods that can target the contexts where abuse happens (Firmin, 2020). “Contextual safeguarding” is an approach to safeguarding adolescents grounded in Bourdieu’s theory of social capital (Bourdieu, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Young people and “county lines”: a contextual and social account

Wroe

2021

JCS

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Purpose This paper aims to present an analysis of a “county lines” safeguarding partnership in a large city region of England. A critical analysis of current literature and practice responses to “county lines” is followed by the presentation of an analytical framework that draws on three contextual and social theories of (child) harm. This framework is applied to the partnership work to ask: are the interconnected conditions of criminal exploitation of children via “county lines” understood?; do interventions target the contexts of harm?; and is social and institutional harm acknowledged and addressed? Design/methodology/approach The analytical framework is applied to a data set collected by the author throughout a two-year study of the “county lines” partnership. Qualitative data collected by the author and quantitative data published by the partnership are coded and thematically analysed in NVivo against the analytic framework. Findings Critical tensions are surfaced in the praxis of multi-agency, child welfare responses to “county lines” affected young people. Generalising these findings to the child welfare sector at large, it is proposed that the contextual dynamics of child harm via “county lines” must be understood in a broader sense, including how multi-agency child welfare practices contribute to the harm experienced by young people. Originality/value There are limited peer-reviewed analyses of child welfare responses to “county lines”. This paper contributes to that limited scholarship, extending the analysis by adopting a critical analytic framework to a regional county lines partnership at the juncture of future national, child welfare responses to “county lines”.

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Section: Social and Contextual Framework For Understanding And Respomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social and Contextual Framework For Understanding And Respomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (Project Staff Interview)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Young people and “county lines”: a contextual and social account

Wroe

2021

JCS

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“…New developments within social work are exploring the relationship between the harm young people experience and the place in which occurs—for example, serious youth violence on the street or sexual harassment at school, employing geographical or contextual methods to assess places rather than people (Firmin, 2020; Lloyd, 2019). Yet, in the absence of thorough geographical contribution, social work practice itself can be seen to develop with limited recognition and understanding of the role of space and place.…”

Section: Child Protection Relationalitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards geographies of child protection

Disney

Lloyd

2020

Geography Compass

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The emergence of current and historic cases of child abuse across the globe has, in recent years, dominated the news, political agendas and popular discourse surrounding children. From serious case reviews to exploitation in post‐conflict zones, from sexual abuse of children by groups to trafficking of drugs across countries, the importance of protecting children is an increasing concern in many countries. Key to, and inherent in, all of these processes and phenomena are child protection systems, working in varying degrees of effectiveness. While geographic interest has touched upon many of these areas, the role of child protection systems, and the practitioners that work within these, do not explicitly feature within this work. In this article, we seek to develop an introduction to geographies of child protection, producing an initial critical review which points to future research avenues in this field. We adopt a Foucauldian approach and review four themes to illustrate the ways in which geographical approaches might yield important insights. Drawing primarily on England as a context, we consider the historical geographies and origins of child protection, relational practices in contemporary child protection, the impact of austerity and finally we consider what future directions might require a geographical approach.

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‘Letting you share when you need to share’: navigating the potential and precarity of friends and peers for UK young people after sexual abuse in adolescence

et al. 2023

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This article explores the rarely considered role of friends and peers supporting young people after sexual abuse experienced in adolescence, drawing on participatory research with 32 young people in the UK with lived experience.The article considers ways in which relationships with friends and peers interplay with recovery from abuse. This includes friends and peers as recipients of disclosure, conduits to professional support, sources of emotional support and distraction, and embroiled in often challenging, precarious peer cultures that young people navigate post-abuse.The article explores young people's rationale for, and experiences of, reaching out to friends and peers. It considers what young people seek and gain from these relationships in the aftermath of abuse, while acknowledging complex risks and precarity of these relationships. It argues that support from friends offers something distinct to family and professionals. It explores benefits of these relationships, but also potential for peer responses to undermine wellbeing if not sufficiently supportive or informed.The article ends by arguing for professionals to better recognise and respond to these relational contexts and consider whether there are safe and appropriate ways to 'support young people to support' without responsibilisation, and recognising welfare needs of those providing such support.

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Contextual Safeguarding and Child Protection

Cited by 70 publications

References 0 publications

Young people and “county lines”: a contextual and social account

Young people and “county lines”: a contextual and social account

Towards geographies of child protection

‘Letting you share when you need to share’: navigating the potential and precarity of friends and peers for UK young people after sexual abuse in adolescence

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