How do we respond to harm faced by young people beyond their front doors? Can practitioners keep young people safe at school, in their neighbourhoods or with their friends when social care systems are designed to work with families? The Contextual Safeguarding approach has transformed how policy makers, social care leaders, practitioners and researchers understand harm that happens to young people in their communities and what is required to respond. Since 2015 it has been tested across the UK and internationally. This book shares stories from child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation and peer violence about what has been learnt on this journey. For anyone interested in how we safeguard young people beyond their front doors, this book shows how much we have achieved and raises big questions about what more we need to do to ensure young people are safe – whatever the context.

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. Through analysing case reviews, observing professionals, and co-creating practices with them, Firmin provides a personal, philosophical, strategic, and practical account of the design, implementation and future of Contextual Safeguarding. Drawing together a wealth of practice examples, case studies, policy references, and practitioner insights for the first time, this book articulates a new safeguarding framework and provides a detailed account of its translation across an entire child protection system and its relevant component parts. It will be of interest to all scholars, students, and professionals working within social work, youth justice and youth work, policing and law enforcement, community safety, council services, forensic and clinical psychology, counselling, health, and education.

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. Through analysing case reviews, observing professionals, and co-creating practices with them, Firmin provides a personal, philosophical, strategic, and practical account of the design, implementation and future of Contextual Safeguarding. Drawing together a wealth of practice examples, case studies, policy references, and practitioner insights for the first time, this book articulates a new safeguarding framework and provides a detailed account of its translation across an entire child protection system and its relevant component parts. It will be of interest to all scholars, students, and professionals working within social work, youth justice and youth work, policing and law enforcement, community safety, council services, forensic and clinical psychology, counselling, health, and education.

Focusing on young people and adolescence, this book explores the complexity of contemporary adolescent safeguarding. It highlights evidence-informed practice and innovation in this area at the work, serving as an accessible and invaluable resource for all working with and supporting young people facing risk and harm. Core themes covered by the book are the nature of harms facing some young people, the potential pitfalls of some professional responses, and the current legal framework for safeguarding young people where harm occurs outside the family home. It includes an overview of adolescent development, and argues for a holistic, systemic response that addresses the structural disadvantage facing many young people at risk and incorporates participatory and trauma-informed practice designed to promote resilience. It draws on innovative approaches in local areas, such as Transitional Safeguarding, to make the case for a person-centred, evidence-informed and rights-based approach to safeguarding young people. As well as being invaluable to practitioners, managers and strategic leaders working in this field, this is also ideally suited to be a text for any social work course or professional development programme on adolescent safeguarding practice.

Safeguarding Children and Young People offers students and practitioners an accessible and multi-disciplinary guide to working together with other professionals to deliver a child-centred and co-ordinated approach to safeguarding, in line with the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance. Taking a ‘whole systems’ approach, and offering support on prevention, assessment, intervention, systems, and leadership, the book reflects on recent challenges including contextual abuse, child sexual exploitation and cyber-abuse. The book includes case studies, activities and points for reflection to aid learning and test understanding.

Considering safeguarding across the life span and placing it within a multiagency context, this book gives students a grounding to the key issues in safeguarding today, highlighting the key skills and knowledge necessary for effective practice along the way. It includes reference to the latest legislation, skills for practice, a breadth of contexts and service-user groups, drawing on a range of case studies, activities, reflective questions and recommending reading from across health and social care. Locating age specific concerns in context and divided into sections which cover every stage of life, it addresses questions of culture, gender and problems frequently encountered in practice and what these mean for safeguarding and law.

In dealing with individual problems and difficulties, critical social work (CSW) is an emancipatory practice which seeks to address social injustice. In this book the author draws on almost 40 years’ experience as a social worker to consider CSW in core areas of practice with children and families. Fully updated to cover the impact of austerity, Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis, this accessible textbook is essential reading for students, educators and practitioners of child and family social work. It features: • clearly signposted ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ sections; • over 10 case studies including those drawn from the author’s experience; • end of chapter ‘Key points’ summaries; • further reading suggestions. With expanded coverage of race and intersectionality, contextual safeguarding and critical child protection, the book champions the development of resilient social workers working towards a more just and equal world.