Suchergebnisse

Purpose
This paper aims to consider the opportunities for embedded methodologies for research into children's social care and the ethics of this method.


Design/methodology/approach
This study draws upon embedded research from a two-year study into developing children's social work approaches to extra-familial risk. Findings draw upon personal reflections from field notes, case reviews, practice observations and reflections.


Findings
Two findings are presented. Firstly, that embedded research provides numerous opportunities to develop child protection systems and practice. Secondly, a number of ethical questions and challenges of the methodology are presented.


Research limitations/implications
This paper draws upon personal reflections from one study and is not intended to be representative of all approaches to embedded research methods.


Practical implications
Two practical recommendations are presented. Firstly, this paper outlines a number of recommendations to university researchers and host organisations on the facilitative attributes for embedded researchers. Secondly, questions are raised to support university ethics boards to assist ethical frameworks for embedded research.


Originality/value
This paper contributes original empirical data to the limited literature on embedded research in children's services.

Summary In the United Kingdom (UK), inquiries into the abuse of adolescents harmed in contexts beyond their families frequently document failures in multi-agency arrangements. Forms of extra-familial harm, such as criminal and sexual exploitation, often feature near-fatal violence and serious abuse. UK welfare policy has shifted towards place-based approaches to harm, leading to safeguarding partnerships forming between welfare agencies and neighbourhood crime reduction agencies. However, forming partnerships between those who have differing epistemological underpinnings raises challenges. This article explores these by drawing on a research project implementing contextual safeguarding theory and practice within five child welfare social care departments in England and Wales. Data is presented from 10 pilots (33 focus groups, 24 interviews, 59 meeting observations, 36 reviews of cases, review of 100 documents). Findings Multi-agency partnerships prioritise safeguarding practice that targets behaviour, over addressing the social conditions of abuse. Assumptions that partnerships will automatically align means that there is little space for negotiating a shared conceptual/ideological approach. Particularly in high-risk situations, welfare agencies defer to policing methods that target individuals rather than environments. Where ecological approaches are utilised, this is experienced as 'against the grain' and requiring support. Applications To advance contextual approaches to safeguarding young people, multi-agency partnerships must go beyond altering the behaviour of those who are harmed. Partnerships that engage in reflective discussion about their conceptual approach are more likely to build the awareness and trust required for ecological methods to succeed. Enhancing ecological social work leadership within partnerships responding to extra-familial harm is a key factor.

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.

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. ; open access

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.

This paper critically reflects on the role of surveillance and trusted relationships in social work in England and Wales. It explores the characteristics of relationships of trust and relationships of surveillance and asks how these approaches apply to emerging policy and practices responses to extra-familial forms of harm (EFH). Five bodies of research that explore safeguarding responses across a range of public bodies are drawn on to present an analytical framework that explores elements of safeguarding responses, constituting relationships of trust or relationships of surveillance and control. This analytic framework is applied to two case studies, each of which detail a recent practice innovation in response to EFH studied by the authors, as part of a larger body of work under the Contextual Safeguarding programme. The application of this framework signals a number of critical issues related to the focus/rationale, methods and impact of interventions into EFH that should be considered in future work to address EFH, to ensure young people's rights to privacy and participation are upheld.

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.

Abstract
This article explores social care responses to children experiencing criminal exploitation and violence. The article draws on data from two children's social care departments in England applying a Contextual Safeguarding framework to extra-familial harm. Using evidence from interviews, focus groups, meeting observations and two peer assessments, the article explores factors that facilitate welfare approaches when children commit crimes and those conditions that undermine welfare approaches. The findings outline five conditions which facilitate or inhibit welfare responses including: whether legal rights promote the best interests of the child, if harm reduction prioritises a child's needs, if language is underpinned by caring intention, the extent that systems harm is recognised and addressed and how practitioners gain knowledge of young people. The discussion introduces a welfare framework for social workers to define and describe what the conditions for welfare responses can constitute.

AbstractInternational evidence suggests that schools are locations where systems, practices, and cultures can enable harmful sexual behaviours. However, in England, welfare assessments primarily used by statutory social services largely target young people and their families, with limited capacity to assess environments beyond the home. Where young people display harmful sexual behaviours within educational settings, social care systems are yet to assess the factors within schools that may accelerate risks associated with harmful sexual behaviours. This exploratory article presents evidence on the opportunities for school assessment using cumulative learning from two studies. The first investigated enablers and barriers to addressing harmful sexual behaviour in schools. The second employed the learning from the first through an action research study to develop school context assessments within a child protection system. Both studies employed a mixed‐methods approach including observations, case review, focus groups, surveys, and policy reviews to access data. Synthesized findings highlight the value of exploring school contexts when assessing the nature of extrafamilial abuse; the opportunities and challenges of utilizing research methods for assessing school environments; and the role new assessment frameworks could play in supporting the inclusion of school contexts, and research methods, into welfare assessments of extrafamilial abuse.

AbstractThis article explores the synergies between relationship‐based practice and contextual safeguarding when working with young people experiencing extra‐familial risk and harm (EFRH). The article draws on data from interviews, observations, policy reviews and case files from two sites in England who are testing contextual safeguarding approaches to EFRH, including a children and families social work department and a voluntary and community sector organisation. The findings evidence how relationship‐based practice in contextual safeguarding facilitates practitioners' understanding of places and their peers. The discussion draws on the theory of social defences to evidence that despite willingness and commitment to relationship‐based practice, without systemic and cultural organisational support to respond to EFRH, efforts to do so may undermine and cause harm to practitioners engaging in this work.