How does a Contextual Safeguarding approach support participation with young people? What are the
different ways that young people can be engaged and included? This briefing presents learning from
the Scale-Up project on how to develop the participation of young people in safeguarding services.
Engaging young people in the development of practice and policy brings up a number of ethical, practical, and access challenges. When child protections systems first adopt a Contextual Safeguarding approach, they often
begin by making changes to their systems, including policies and practice documents. This might include adapting forms, making changes to case management systems and developing new panels and meetings alongside multi-agency partners. These are important steps to make, but to progress in embedding Contextual Safeguarding and to honour the values that underpin the framework, it is vital that young people are engaged with as these changes occur, and that their perspectives and voices are central to systems change. Through this briefing, we reflect on the challenges and opportunities that exist for child protection systems to engage in, and embed, meaningful and impactful participatory practice with young people.
This resource is from the Scale-Up toolkit and should be used in conjunction with the other resources. You can access the Scale-Up toolkit here
This briefing outlines the steps you can take to ensure meaningful participation from young people when embedding systems change. It highlights key ethical and practical considerations for professionals, as well as examples from the Scale Up project of good practice, and barriers to participation based on what we have learned from young people.
Briefing: Embedded participatory practice
June 2022
Scale-Up Toolkit