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"This book offers a complete account of Contextual Safeguarding theory, policy and practice frameworks for the first time. It highlights the particular challenge of extra-familial routes through which young people experience significant harm, such as child sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, serious youth violence, domestic abuse in teenage relationships, bullying, gang-association and radicalisation"--

Despite evidence that young people's peer relationships are associated with their experiences of abuse, child protection guidance directs social work practice to be primarily focused on the assessment of, and intervention with, families. Presenting data from two studies into the nature of, and safeguarding response to, peer abuse in England, this article questions the familial parameters of child protection frameworks, and evidences the need to include peer group relationships within social work assessment. Drawing on Bourdieu's sociological theory, a conceptual framework is used to evidence that familial-focused practice fails to address the extra-familial social conditions in which peer abuse manifests. Complimenting an international evidence base that promotes ecological responses to adolescent welfare and social service development, this article suggests that advancing knowledge of peer group assessment and intervention should form a central part of the child protection research agenda.

AbstractThis paper introduces a systemic methodology for reviewing professional responses to abuse between young people. The approach, "contextual case reviewing," draws upon constructivist structuralism to assess the extent to which safeguarding practices engage with the social and public contexts of abuse. The paper conceptually compares the methodologies of contextual case review and other serious case review methods before drawing upon findings from 2 studies, which used the contextual case review methodology to explore the extrafamilial nature of peer‐on‐peer abuse and the ability of child protection practices to engage with this dynamic. Thematic findings from these studies regarding the practical interpretation of "significant harm" and "capacity to safeguard," as well as their use within child protection assessments, are used to challenge conclusions of other case reviews, which imply that child protection procedures are sufficient for safeguarding young people. Contextual case reviews suggest that safeguarding practices, and the legislation that underpins them, are culturally, procedurally, and organisationally wedded to the context of the home, whereas insufficiently engaged with extrafamilial contexts of significant harm. The application of these issues require interrogation if social work systems are to provide sufficient mechanisms for safeguarding young people and families at risk of significant harm.

Awareness of peer-on-peer abuse is on the rise and is a matter of increasing international concern. Abuse Between Young People: A Contextual Account is the first book to offer a contextualised narrative of peer-on-peer abuse that moves beyond recognising an association between environments and individual choice, and illustrates the ways in which such interplay occurs. Using both sociological and feminist perspectives, Firmin reshapes the way that peer-on-peer abuse is perceived and investigates the effect of gendered social context on the nature of abuse between young people. This text also uses an in-depth case study to explore associations between abusive incidents and young people's homes, peer groups, schools and neighbourhoods, in addition to broader societal influences such as pornography and politics. National and international policies are woven into each chapter, along with insights from parenting programmes, the troubled families' agenda, and bullying and community safety policies. Abuse Between Young People presents a clear insight into the various contexts that affect the nature of peer-on-peer abuse, providing a thorough analysis into the debates on this issue. In so doing, Firmin creates a vital contextual approach to safeguarding young people affected by this issue. It is invaluable reading for students and researchers in social work, education, criminology, sociology and psychology, as well as practitioners and policymakers concerned with the protection of young people.

Peer-sexual abuse in educational settings is a matter of international concern – featured in mainstream news reports, televised through drama series and documented in research. In 2018 the UK government revised and published a series of policy documents to assist schools in addressing the phenomenon. This paper considers the sufficiency of this policy framework through social field analysis of focus groups with staff and students at seven educational establishments in England that ran from 2015-2017. Analysis reveals four avenues through which staff and students created or reinforced norms the underpinned harmful sexual behaviours and in doing so created contexts conducive with peer-sexual abuse. While policy developments have made initial acknowledgements of school cultures as associated to peer-sexual abuse, significant progress is required if policy is to provide a framework that challenges, rather than reinforces, individualised – and on occasion victim-blaming – narratives of peer-sexual abuse. ; 12m embargo from publication date

This paper introduces a systemic methodology for reviewing professional responses to abuse between young people. The approach, "contextual case reviewing," draws upon constructivist structuralism to assess the extent to which safeguarding practices engage with the social and public contexts of abuse. The paper conceptually compares the methodologies of contextual case review and other serious case review methods before drawing upon findings from 2 studies, which used the contextual case review methodology to explore the extrafamilial nature of peer‐on‐peer abuse and the ability of child protection practices to engage with this dynamic. Thematic findings from these studies regarding the practical interpretation of "significant harm" and "capacity to safeguard," as well as their use within child protection assessments, are used to challenge conclusions of other case reviews, which imply that child protection procedures are sufficient for safeguarding young people. Contextual case reviews suggest that safeguarding practices, and the legislation that underpins them, are culturally, procedurally, and organisationally wedded to the context of the home, whereas insufficiently engaged with extrafamilial contexts of significant harm. The application of these issues require interrogation if social work systems are to provide sufficient mechanisms for safeguarding young people and families at risk of significant harm.

Authors set out five key features of promising social care responses to extra-familial risks and harms drawn from studying international systems

Young people experience significant harm in a range of social contexts and from adults and peers unconnected to their caregivers. The recognition of this by policymakers in England, Scotland, and Wales has resulted in child protection policy frameworks increasingly requiring social work responses to the extra-familial contexts where such harm occurs, as well as to the young people affected. This paper presents results from an embedded research project in which five local children's social care departments used a Contextual Safeguarding framework to respond to this shifting policy direction. The data collected via ethnographic methods over three years included meeting and practice observations (n = 65), meeting participation (n = 334), reviews of young people's case files (n = 122), interviews (n = 27) and focus groups (n = 33) with professionals, focus groups (n = 6), interviews (n = 2) and surveys (n = 78) with parents and young people, and analysis of local policies and procedures (n = 101). At two stages in the project, the researchers used this dataset to review the progress in each participant site against the Contextual Safeguarding framework. Reporting on the progress made across the five sites, this paper identifies elements of the system change that appeared most feasible or challenging. The results demonstrate four ways in which current policy reforms fall short in creating national contexts that are conducive to the implementation of Contextual Safeguarding, despite local progress towards this goal. The implications for the policy and practices are outlined, with fundamental questions asked of the statutory systems which need to protect, but all too often criminalise, young people abused beyond their front doors.

During adolescence, risk to young people's safety shifts from familial to community contexts. Contextual safeguarding has emerged in response to this dynamic; by providing a conceptual framework through which to incorporate extra‐familial contexts (and those who manage them) into traditionally family focused child protection systems. This paper uses Geographic Information System mapping techniques to explore the extent to which bus boarding data could be used to: target protective interventions in public spaces; evidence routes where young people may be vulnerable; and build local area problem profiles. In doing so it provides foundational evidence for including transport providers in contextual safeguarding systems.

This briefing considers the extent to which changes made to Working Together to Safeguard Children in 2018, and the existing legislative underpinning that guidance, provide a sufficient policy and practice framework for adopting a Contextual Safeguarding approach. It presents the key messages that emerged from a legal roundtable held in 2020, alongside emergent data from the Contextual Safeguarding programme. ; UoB copyright

AbstractCalls for a contextual approach to abuse prevention highlight a need to better understand how contextual frameworks may be operationalized. Using a dual-case study design, this research compares two contrasting pilot projects underpinned by contextual theories of abuse prevention. One was implemented in a small remote Indigenous community in Australia and aimed to reduce the extent of youth-perpetrated sexual abuse. The other occurred in a densely populated urban area in London (UK) and involved the co-creation and testing of a contextual child protection response to peer-to-peer abuse. Despite their divergent approaches to developing contextual practice, a comparison of the two projects identified shared features of implementation. Both involved context-specific community buy-in and ownership of a response to peer-to-peer abuse; solutions that were co-created between professionals and communities; and the enhancement of community guardianship, pro-social use of space, and changes to the physical design of areas to increase safety. Consequentially, both projects demanded a radical transformation in the way health and social care professionals viewed the target of their interventions—the what—and the approach to achieving change—the how. Comparing these two case studies provides a unique opportunity to extend knowledge on the practical application of contextual theoretical approaches to abuse prevention.

This book shares stories from child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation and peer violence about what has been learnt from the contextual safeguarding approach to understanding harm that happens to young people in their communities and what is required to respond.

This book shares stories from child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation and peer violence about what has been learnt from the contextual safeguarding approach to understanding harm that happens to young people in their communities and what is required to respond.