Webinar: Extra Familial Harm: An overview of the Contextual Safeguarding Approach

Clive Diaz

Summary

Traditionally, child protection practice has focused on keeping children safe within their family homes. Child and family social workers assess parents’ ability to meet their child’s needs and protect them from harm. However, Dr Carlene Firmin, Head of the Contextual Safeguarding Programme at the University of Bedfordshire, argues that this approach is limited when it comes to protecting children from risks that occur outside the family setting.

Recent high-profile child sexual exploitation cases have shown that young people can face harm in many everyday places — including schools, fast food outlets, buses and stairwells. This means that safeguarding must take account of the locations and social contexts in which children spend their time. The Contextual Safeguarding approach calls for the involvement of a much wider group of people, such as fast food workers, bus drivers and members of the public, alongside social workers, to form a broader network of protection around young people.

This raises important questions about capacity. Do social workers have the time and resources to consider every environment a young person moves through, or all the peer relationships they may be exposed to outside the home? Can they assess and intervene not only with families, but also with peer groups and the wider contexts that can increase the risk of harm in places such as parks, train stations and schools? This represents a significant shift in practice for child and family social workers.

This session provides an overview of the Contextual Safeguarding approach and draws on research from two local authorities that explored how effective it is in protecting young people who are vulnerable to extra-familial harm.