“Contextual Safeguarding uptake has been rapid. Practitioners have been keen to work in places outside the home. But the idea of needing to do this by changing the social conditions has been less understood. The result of this is we see safeguarding responses that target a context outside the home, but which still focus on changing the behaviour of the young people being harmed. This does not fit with a Contextual Safeguarding approach”
What prevents multi-agency partnerships from responding to harm outside the home in a way that is in line with Contextual Safeguarding? Here we draw on research that looked at the values and drivers behind decisions and actions taken by multi-agency groups who were seeking to safeguard young people in community settings.
We found that whilst many partnerships started off hoping to take a contextual approach, they often defaulted to approaches that targeted the behaviour of young people. The briefing gives examples of behaviour-based work, explaining why Contextual Safeguarding invites a move away from this. Examples are also given of what it means to work in an ecological way, which can be particularly challenging to do because services are generally not set up to respond in this way.
The briefing presents reflective questions for multi-agency groups to consider. We encourage teams and partnership to appreciate that safeguarding young people from risks outside the home creates professional anxiety. It’s important to be aware of how this can stop practitioners breaking away from the status quo and trying new ways of working. It’s also important to think about how partners have different training from one another and some probably have no background in thinking and responding in an ecological way to young people’s safety and harm. Appreciating these things, and being willing to talk openly about them, will help partnerships understand how their current ways of working need to change and how to build a shared plan and vision for their future work together.
The briefing goes through what it means to work in an ‘ecological’ way, and how this is different from approaches which are ‘behaviour-based’. If you want to reflect on what this means for your local partnership, we offer questions for group discussion. As you have these discussions, we encourage you to remember that safeguarding young people from harm, especially in settings beyond the family – can cause professional anxiety, as it is full of unknowns and uncertainty. It is vital that your partnership conversations are reflective and supportive, as this will help you to think together about how you can adapt your work to be closer to the Contextual Safeguarding framework.
This briefing can be paired with the DIY workshop, infographic and journal article.
This briefing presents the findings of research that looked at what happens when multi-agency partners work together to change contexts. We spoke to, and observed professionals from different agencies, as they developed responses to young people facing harm in their communities. We found that, in most cases, the work was dominated by activity that tried to change the behaviour of young people. This contrasts with Contextual Safeguarding, which asks partners to change the context as a way of creating safety.
Singing from the same hymn sheet? What happens when multi-agency partners apply Contextual Safeguarding?
March 2023
Rachael Owens and Jenny Lloyd