Skip to content
Learning from sites piloting alternative child protection pathways addressing significant harm beyond families

'This has given people what they needed': progress and pitfalls for establishing child protection pathways in England that address significant harm beyond their families

This paper, published in 2023, outlines the findings from research into sites implemented new alternative pathways for young people at risk of significant harm outside their families. The paper can be accessed below, as well as related resources which outline the key learnings and findings from the project.

How should we respond when young people are at risk of significant harm, but it cannot be attributed to their families? What legal and statutory systems are in place to respond to extra-familial harm that reaches a threshold of 'significant'?

Working with three children’s social care departments in England applying a Contextual Safeguarding framework, we followed their journey in piloting a new approach to extra-familial harm that met the definition of 'significant' under Section 47 of the Children Act. The findings emerged from interviews with professionals, case file review, and observations of new meetings designed to fill the gap in existing Child Protection pathways. We identified five features of these alternative pathways and discuss their conceptual, legal, and practical implications for child protection systems and the social workers who practise within them. Alongside the paper reporting these findings, we have made a series of resources for professionals to understand some of the learnings. 

In the resources below you can find the link to the research article and some related resources explaining the different pathways used, an outline of the findings, and the legal context in which this project emerged.  

'This has given people what is needed': progress and pitfalls for establishing child protection pathways in England that address significant harm beyond families

This research paper, published in 2023, outlines the methodological approach, findings, and learnings from our research with three sites piloting alternative child protection pathways for cases of significant harm beyond the home. 

Access here
Resources

Here you can find related resources that summarise the paper and research findings

'This has given people what is needed': progress and pitfalls for establishing child protection pathways in England that address significant harm beyond families

June 2023

Carlene Firmin and Molly Manister