When considering the present-day safeguarding and child protection landscape, it is not difficult to recognise the significant changes and shifts that have resulted in some of the most challenging, and in some cases, dangerous circumstances facing young children and their families at this moment in time. In brief, the situation is mostly impacted by three main elements:
- The prevailing effects of a worldwide pandemic on early childhood experiences and life outcomes.
- A cost-of-living crisis.
- The weakening of public sector service support that is creaking under substantial pressures given persistent lack of Government investment.
As with other universal services, early years, while rising to the challenges, is along with others struggling to navigate its way around safeguarding and child protection's contexts and systems. There is often confusion where practitioners, especially safeguarding leads, find themselves easily distracted or misled by the belief that knowledge of a certain safeguarding subject or topic helps them to be more competent in their roles. While a wider knowledge base of safeguarding themes and merging topics can be helpful, the approach to effective practice is neither complicated nor difficult.
Having the right focus
It is interesting to observe what influences our focus on safeguarding and child protection in the early years. Speaking with practitioners, it is clear that some worry they have a knowledge deficit when it comes to being able to identify risks for a child because they don’t know about trending safeguarding themes or topics.
During the past two years, where information sharing has been amplified using social media or sourced from places less than authentic or reliable, there is a sense that we may have lost our way when it comes to placing the right emphasis upon the things that influence and inform safeguarding and child protection knowledge and practice. Sadly, this current hiatus can sometimes be reflected in Ofsted inspections, when some inspectors will test staff's knowledge by asking random questions about abuse lacking context or relevance. Placing emphasis only on what Ofsted wants to know, or what we perceive as being important to know, is not always helpful.
Our focus therefore should be on:
- Knowledge of the needs of the children with whom we work.
- Understanding and knowing how parents and carers are meeting their children's needs.
- Awareness of the things that present as risks in families and the child's wider community, and what influences or compromises parents’ and carers’ ability to provide protective factors for their children.
Putting things into perspective
Having a clear and relevant perception of what equates to risk in early childhood is essential and must be informed by credible evidence and research. Characteristics of children in need, published by the Government (see More information), is a report that offers insight into some important statistics and themes that occur in the lives of children in any one year. The latest report notes several concerning trends, citing things such as domestic abuse and poor parental mental health as being the highest factors recognised at the end of a child in need assessment. In fact, a staggering 57,260 children were quoted as being ‘victims of domestic abuse’ in the past year.
We need to understand all areas of risk, but we must put risk into perspective; a failure to do so will result in children who are in sight, those with whom we have regular contact, becoming unseen and unnoticed.
Learning from national publications
The past year has seen some significant and insightful reports drawing our attention to the themes that sit at the centre of child protection failures. The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel produced the report Child Protection in England: National review into the murders of Arthur Lambinjo- Hughes and Star Hobsonin 2022. Again, echoing themes that draw upon the vulnerability of young children such as the impact of domestic abuse, disguised compliance and the risks that pose threats for children from parents’ new partners, both of which were themes in Arthur and Star's tragic deaths. Most national themes remain driven by factors such as poor parental mental health, neglect and injuries in children under 12 months of age, and always seem to feature failings by professionals to see things from a child's perspective, missing the importance of recognising their lived experiences.
Considering local safeguarding partnership priorities
Perspective also requires us to consider and take into account the priorities determined by local safeguarding partnerships. Under the Working together to safeguard children2018 requirements, we have a duty to disseminate information and embed learning from case reviews nationally and particularly locally to the wider workforce in their areas. This means that spotlights on specific themes should be noted and responded to in training and general awareness when working with children and families. Safeguarding Partners’ Annual Reports Analysis 2020-21 (2022) named neglect as the ‘most common priority’ in more than half of safeguarding reports analysed.
Understanding risk
It is important to consider that risks for children come in two forms. Risk of poor outcomes and risk of harm. While very different, they are intrinsically linked. Both represent a different level of need for children, but both play equally important roles in helping or protecting a child.
Risk of poor outcomes – There is a desperate need to emphasise the importance of early help or intervention and take action to act sooner rather than later when a child's needs are emerging or become apparent. Early help ‘means identifying and providing effective early help support to children and young people who are at risk of poor outcomes. It works to reduce risk factors and increase protective factors in a child's life.’ (2018)
Risk of harm – Serious harms for children present in various forms. If a child is at risk of significant harm, as defined by law, they are deemed a child in need and may therefore be in need of protection. The four categories which are emotional, physical, sexual abuse and neglect will be present for a child at risk of harm. Sometimes this is recognised as one single category or often includes more than one category. Government data (2022) that identifies factors at the end of a child in need assessment tells us that emotional abuse is the most preventable of all categories. It is important for those working in the early years to consider neglect as not something that only happens to children who experience poverty or deprivation. Child neglect can also occur when parents are emotionally unavailable to their child. This is known as affluent neglect, and although not widely spoken about or recognised can be harmful to children, especially the very young.
Being able to recognise and respond appropriately to the existing, changing and developing needs of children and families is an essential aptitude. It demonstrates competencies required for those engaging in safeguarding and child protection processes and procedures in the early years.
CASE STUDY: Zoe Hill, nursery manager of Echoes Nursery, Manchester
‘We have found that the most significant and emerging risks for children are those concerning themes relating to affluent neglect. By this we mean children who spend very little time with their parents due to their parents’ busy work schedules. We recognise children whose emotional wellbeing is negatively impacted due to parents experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety made worse by a cost-of-living crisis. We have also noticed that for more affluent families, food can be used to keep their child quiet and occupied; this along with limited encouragement or opportunities for physical exercise seriously affects healthy child development. Childhood obesity is becoming a real problem and we recognise that this results in both short- and long-term poor health outcomes for children.
‘Work commitments make it hard for families to prioritise time away from work to spend with their children. In our nursery we have noticed parents’ response to a cost-of-living crisis is to work more hours. We have even had parents request that we open at weekends to allow them to work an extra day each week.
‘In some instances, we can see the increased pressures upon parents where arguments and conflict at home have escalated and become domestic abuse.
‘Working with parents offering interventions to support them ourselves at early help and sign posting them to other specialist services has proved effective.’
MORE INFORMATION
- Characteristics of children in need: Reporting year 2022. Gov.uk (October 2022), https://bit.ly/3mcmuBz
- Child Protection in England: National review into the murders of Arthur Lambinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson. Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (2022), https://bit.ly/3mkzqFJ
- Safeguarding Partners’ Annual Reports Analysis 2020-21. What works for Children's Social Care (2022), https://bit.ly/3mnOFNW
Rachel Buckler's new book, Developing Child-Centred Practice for Safeguarding and Child Protection: Strategies for Every Early Years Setting (2023) is available