How adopting contextual safeguarding approaches assist social workers when working with situations of extrafamilial harm (EFH) in adolescents.

Proposal of Dissertation Topic.

 

How adopting contextual safeguarding approaches assist social workers when working with situations of extrafamilial harm (EFH) in adolescents.

 

How can adopting contextual safeguarding approaches assist when working with situations of EFH in adolescents.

 

 

I came across my first case of extrafamilial harm (EFH) and its effect on children during my first-year placement at a care home in East London. It involved a looked after child who has been trafficked on several occasion to Oxfordshire to deal illegal drugs (‘County Lines’). There was no clear approach on intervening in his situation. He is also a good example of the blurred line between victims and perpetrators as he has been accused with video evidence of the gang rape of a girl of similar age as himself. The options were to move him to a different home in a different location, move him into a secure location or allow the police and the youth court to punish him with referral s or incarceration eventually. The contexts in which he got involved in ‘county lines’ at a very young age has not been fully investigated and there was not much evident of contextual safe-guarding and I was not aware of any specific context-based service that was available or offered to him and the groups around him. I perceived the role of his social worker, at this point, as the focal point of collection and distribution of surveillance data on this young person. This situation raises the following questions:

  1. What is EFH?
  2. What is contextual safeguarding and how might social workers intervene using this approach?
  3. What are the challenges social worker may face in working with situations of EFH?
  4. What are the effective interventions in cases of EFH?

 

Social workers in the community generally come across a variety of harm and abuse which occurs within the family and there is a deficit of research and approaches in tackling this fast-growing epidemic of extrafamilial abuse and exploitation. The dire effect of this creates a generation of marginalised and deprived adults with the accompanying mental health dis s. In the minority groups in the UK this will lead to more incarcerations leading to destruction of lives and families. My dissertation hopes to critically analyse current research and literature on extrafamilial harm, and the current approaches used in social work setting. This will look closely at the use of surveillance as the go-to intervention in cases of extrafamilial harm in contrast to contextual safeguarding which is a more in-depth in its approach to tackling extrafamilial harm and tries to avoid the frequent institutionalization of the young people and turning the victims into perpetrators.

 

Firmin (2018) found out that response to suspects of peer to peer abuse cases was predominantly rooted in the criminal justice system and most suspects were never subjected to a child protection plan. Firmin (2015) points out that peer on peer abuse arise when professionals do not respond to signs of escalation by assessing and working within the social fields within which the young people exist such as the school, neighbourhood and peer groups. The harmful conditions that breed extrafamilial abuse remained intact and thus is continuously perpetuated. Firmin further pointed out that by using interventions such as detention in cases of extrafamilial harm the relationships between social fields and individual behaviours. Young people depend on professionals to make safe those spaces in which they develop. If abuse persists to occur and those spaces are not safe, then it is more likely that any intervention with the individuals involved will have limited success.

 

Responses to EFH are usually accompanied by increases in surveillance. From the monitoring of young people’s social media accounts by schools and social workers, mandatory reporting by civic institutions of children at risk of ‘radicalization’, use of multi-agency risk panels and databases to record, share and monitor ‘at risk’ young people, the use of child Covert Human Intelligence Sources to investigate child exploitation and the increased use of secure accommodation (Wroe and Lloyd, 2020)  Whilst these interventions are justified by the urgent need to safeguard children it infringes on human rights and equality law and sometimes immoral and leads to laziness and setting up children to fail. Furthermore, Wroe and Lloyd (2020), suggests that surveillance practices and incarceration results in youth alienation and disengagement from adults, reduces their feeling of safety in certain places and normalises punitive policing and sanctions-based approaches e.g. stop and search. While on the other hand the limited application of complex, contextual and other community based safeguarding approaches is the key to long-term stability and security for children resulting in the building, strengthening and repairing of relationships and enabling young people to develop trust and build their relationships with professionals.

 

Davies and Ward (2012) discovered substantial evidence that maltreated and neglected children frequently return home from being looked after to situations that were unchanged from those that existed when they were first placed away. Their Analysis of Serious Case Reviews 2005–7 also found evidence of some children and families ‘bumping along the bottom’ with no services being offered at all. And they also pointed out that almost all decisions made by the wide range of practitioners involved, from health, adult mental health, education and the family justice system as well as by professionals in children’s social care, are made in the expectation that children will fare best if looked after by their birth families. This is in keeping Safeguarding Children Across Services with the Children Act 1989 and with human rights legislation, as well as with social work values and theories of empowerment. They concluded that this approach requires practitioners to be proactive, rather than reactive, moving the focus from considering thresholds for intervention to exploring how parenting can be improved in the population, on a public health basis. A population or community-based approach is non-stigmatizing, more likely to reach families early and prevent escalation of abuse, and more likely to reach those children whose maltreatment tends to pass unnoticed.

 

Firmin et al. (2019) described the four domains posited that in to sufficiently safeguard children, particularly adolescents, from risk or abuse in extra-familial settings, safeguarding partnerships need to firstly target the home, peer group, school, neighbourhood or online contexts where abuse occurs, through assessment and intervention, secondly, in addition to the individuals affected do this within a child protection legislative framework, to ensure that the response is welfare led, is not necessarily triggered by, or dependent upon, a crime being committed or a criminal investigation being conducted; thirdly build partnerships with agencies who have a reach into extra-familial contexts such as education, voluntary and community sector organisations, youth work, housing, retail, transport and licensing, in addition to children, particularly adolescents (as peers), and parents themselves: and lastly measure success by risk reducing in contexts of concern, not solely by a change in the behaviours of any individuals who have encountered or instigated abuse unsafe contexts. They also outlined the continuous development and improving of the approach as testing of contextual safeguarding in multiple sites will also clarify whether the framework presented thus far is enough for establishing thresholds for assessment and intervention, sharing information about contexts and compelling partners to address contextual dynamics of risk. My dissertation aims at discovering how social workers can find a balance, based on current researches, between safeguarding individual children experiencing EFH within their case load and at the same time implement a contextual safeguarding approach to create a safe place or environment for the child to return to and excel. Thereby, indirectly reducing cases of EFH in the community itself.

 

Wilson, et al. (2011) describes social work research as been concerned with understanding the problems experienced by individuals within societies and the impact of social policies and professional interventions on them. The methodology of my research will be a critical qualitative based on an ethical literature review (narrative review) with the aim of finding out the effect or role of the social worker to safeguard children from EFH using the contextual safeguarding approach and evaluate the impact on individual adolescents and the groups they exist in. According to Ruch and Julkunen (2016), reflexivity is an important dimension of agency and a crucial component of qualitative research. Reflection in dialogue involves listening to both our inner and outer voices and learning from others’ reflections and perspectives. Thereby my voice will reverberate throughout the body of my dissertation. Carey (2013) point out that it is more common to decide a methodology after the literature review has begun. This is because the literature review can often alter the nature and context of a research project by throwing new light on and providing different insights, consequently my methodology would possibly change as I progress in my research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References.

 

Carey, M. (2013) The social work dissertation: using small-scale qualitative methodology. 2nd ed. Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04005a&AN=tavi.41409&authtype=shib&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed: 18 October 2020).

 

Davies, C and Ward, H. (2012) Safeguarding Children Across Services: Messages from Research. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/183231/DFE-RR164.pdf. (Accessed: 16 October 2020)

 

Firmin, C., Eastman, A., Wise, I., Proschaka, E., Holmes, D., Pearce, J. and Wright, S. (2019) A Legal Framework for Implementing Contextual Safeguarding Initial opportunities and consideration. Available at: https://csnetwork.org.uk/assets/images/A-Legal-Framework-for-Implementing-Contextual-Safeguarding_190313_151714.pdf. (Accessed: 16 October 2020)

 

Ruch, G and Julkunen, I. (2016) Relationship-Based Research in Social Work: Understanding Practice Research. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

 

Wilson, K. & Ruch, G and Lymbery, M. & Cooper, A. (2011) Social work: an introduction to contemporary practice. 2nd edn. Harlow Longman.

 

Wroe, L. and Lloyd, J. (2020) Watching over or Working with? Understanding Social Work Innovation in Response to Extra-Familial Harm. Social Sciences, [online] 9(4), p.37. Available at: <http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/socsci9040037>. (Accessed: 15 October 2020).

Primary Sources.

 

Davies, C. and Ward, H., (2012) Safeguarding Children Across Services: Messages from Research. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers (Safeguarding Children Across Services). Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=420411&authtype=shib&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed: 17 October 2020).

 

Densley, J. et al. (2020) ‘No Further Action: Contextualising Social Care Decisions for Children Victimised in Extra-Familial Settings’, Youth Justice, 20(1/2), p. 79. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=142637400&authtype=shib&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed: 17 October 2020).

 

Firmin, C. (2018) ‘Contextualizing case reviews: A methodology for developing systemic safeguarding practices’, Child & Family Social Work, 23(1), pp. 45–52. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12382. (Accessed: 14 October 2020)

 

Firmin, C., Eastman, A., Wise, I., Proschaka, E., Holmes, D., Pearce, J. and Wright, S. (2019) A Legal Framework for Implementing Contextual Safeguarding Initial opportunities and consideration. Available at: https://csnetwork.org.uk/assets/images/A-Legal-Framework-for-Implementing-Contextual-Safeguarding_190313_151714.pdf. (Accessed: 16 October 2020).

 

Firmin C., Wroe, L. and Lloyd, J. (2019) Safeguarding and exploitation – complex, contextual and holistic approaches: Strategic Briefing. Available at: https://tce.researchinpractice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Safeguarding-and-exploitation-complex-contextual-and-holistic-approaches.pdf. (Accessed on 14 October 2020)

 

HM Government. (2018) Working Together to Safeguard Children. A guide to inter-agency

working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. (pdf). Available at

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/779401/Working_Together_to_Safeguard-Children.pdf. [Accessed: 16 October 2020]

 

Nilsson, T., Carlstedt, A., Baudin, C., Jakobsson, C., Forsman, A. and Anckarsater, H. (2014) ‘Intra- and extra-familial child sexual abusers and recidivism in Sweden: a 10- to 15-year follow-up study’, Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 25(3), pp. 341–361. doi: 10.1080/14789949.2014.911945. (Accessed: 14 October 2020)

 

St. George, S. and Wulff, D. (2016) Family Therapy as Socially Transformative Practice: Practical Strategies. Switzerland: Springer (AFTA SpringerBriefs in Family Therapy). Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1175601&authtype=shib&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed: 17 October 2020).

 

White, S. and Gibson, M. (2019) Reassessing Attachment Theory in Child Welfare: A Critical Appraisal. Bristol: Policy Press. Available at:

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2323037&authtype=shib&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed: 17 October 2020).

 

Wroe, L. (2019) Contextual Safeguarding and ‘County Lines’ [PDF]. Available at file:///C:/Users/riken/Desktop/Contextual-Safeguarding-and-County-Lines-Briefing_-Wroe-Oct-2019-FINAL-1.pdf. (Accessed:16 October 2020)

 

Wroe, L. and Lloyd, J., (2020). Watching over or Working with? Understanding Social Work Innovation in Response to Extra-Familial Harm. Social Sciences, [online] 9(4), p.37. Available at: <http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/socsci9040037>. (Accessed: 15 October 2020)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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