Searching for safe space: the absent presence of childhood sexual abuse in human geography

Willis, Alette; Canavan, Siobhan; Prior, Seamus

doi:10.1080/0966369x.2015.1013456

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Secondly, studies into carceral mobilities offer the foundations for a greater debate on the use of secure welfare beds as child protection interventions (Disney, 2017;Schliehe, 2013). Finally, the spatial nature of abuse and techniques for changing then nature of abusive places rather than people requires significant development in the field of social workas do narratives of abuse and exploitation within geography (Willis, Canavan and Prior, 2015). This paper does not suggest that relocations should never be used.…”

Section: Discussion -Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…The relevance of 'place' to young people's experiences of abuse, and the operational struggle safeguarding partnerships face in addressing environmental aspects of abuse, suggest that geographers have a role to play in improving child welfare practices. Geographical studies into child abuse (Willis, Canavan and Prior, 2015), children's navigation of public-space (Pain, 2006;Valentine;1997), and the significance of place and mobilities in 'welfare' service design (Disney, 2017;Schliehe, 2013) are built upon in this paper, through the specific study of welfare-intended relocations. Informing, and informed by, debates about the sufficiency of child protection systems to safeguard young people, (Firmin, 2017b;Hanson & Holmes, 2015;House of Commons Education Committee, 2012;United Nations, 2015), this paper considers whether relocation occurs in the absence of welfare practices designed to engage with risk in public places, and whether the damage it poses to relationships in private spaces in fact undermines its very purpose.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relocation, relocation, relocation: home and school-moves for children affected extra-familial risks during adolescence

Firmin

2019

Children's Geographies

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From sexual exploitation and serious youth violence, to recruitment into drugs trafficking lines, young people encounter a range of risks in their neighbourhoods. Safeguarding partnerships in England face a practical challenge in addressing these 'public' types of significant harm, when using a child protection framework designed to respond to risks within the 'private' space of families. In the absence of a safeguarding system equipped to reshape unsafe extra-familial contexts young people are moved away from them. Drawing upon cumulative evidence from 20 case reviews and audits of safeguarding practices in 14 local authorities this paper explores the extent to which such relocations have achieved physical, psychological and relational safety. In doing so it articulates how relocation following public-space risks can disrupt private-space safety and recommends the practice be reviewed to identify the conditions in which it is an appropriate safeguarding mechanism.

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Section: Discussion -Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relocation, relocation, relocation: home and school-moves for children affected extra-familial risks during adolescence

Firmin

2019

Children's Geographies

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“…The academic subject of geography is not immune to participating in this collective denial, as we have argued in a review of the literature (Willis et al . ). This denial is partially enabled by individual and collective silencing on the topic of CSA.…”

Section: Survivor Voices and Resiliencementioning

confidence: 97%

Spaces of dissociation: the impact of childhood sexual abuse on the personal geographies of adult survivors

Willis

Prior

Canavan

2015

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The experiences of survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) have received almost no attention in geography. However, activists and therapists working with survivors have long recognised that CSA has spatial impacts and that finding some sense of control over one's environment is an important step in recovering from this trauma. By bringing the stories of three adult women who are survivors of CSA into conversation with debates in human geography about the habitation of space and place, this psychosocial paper goes some small way towards addressing this oversight. Set in the context of the high prevalence of CSA in all communities, we argue that efforts to understand everyday, domestic and marginalised geographies need to consider the potential impact of abuse. By understanding psychosocial pathways by which abuse impacts on individuals we highlight how violence and trauma can impact on personal geographies in a myriad of ways.

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“…In fact, there has been limited geographical work into all forms of CSA, including adult perpetration. Willis, Canavan, and Prior (2015) suggest the absence of human geography input within the field reflects and recreates the wider dynamics of abuse that silences survivors and prevents them disclosing.…”

Section: Geographies Of Sexual Abusementioning

confidence: 99%

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

Lloyd

2019

Children's Geographies

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Child protection systems in many western countries have developed with the aim of protecting young people from harm within families and by adults. But young people encounter harm in places outside of the home, and by peers. This raises a challenge for practitioners who must now consider new ways to protect young people from harm. In this article I focus on peer-on-peer sexual abuse. I reveal how child protection systems focussed on individuals-who?-fail to account for the places harm happens-where? I bring together two theories-situated agency with contextual safeguarding. These provide a lens to understand how young people navigate unsafe places, and how practitioners understand and respond to the spatially contingent nature of abuse. I present data from meeting observations, focus groups and case reviews to argue that a geographical child protection model would equip practitioners with a preventative approach to protecting young people.

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Searching for safe space: the absent presence of childhood sexual abuse in human geography

Cited by 15 publications

References 79 publications

Relocation, relocation, relocation: home and school-moves for children affected extra-familial risks during adolescence

Relocation, relocation, relocation: home and school-moves for children affected extra-familial risks during adolescence

Spaces of dissociation: the impact of childhood sexual abuse on the personal geographies of adult survivors

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

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