People working in the early years are in a unique position when it comes to helping and protecting young children. The important roles they play offer numerous advantages:
- They recognise and learn to understand the child's lived experiences, both current and over time.
- The role of the key person creates opportunities to get to know children in ways other professionals cannot. Key persons also build effective and supportive relationships between themselves and parents/carers.
- Professionals provide important and effective protective factors for the most vulnerable of children. They advocate on their behalf when others often don't.
- They draw upon a sound knowledge and understanding of child development that aids professional judgements, helping to identify needs and take appropriate actions.
All communities are different, but working in some of those that are most disadvantaged can be extremely challenging for lots of reasons. Understanding a national thematic perspective is helpful, and learning from child safeguarding practice reviews also informs our underpinning knowledge of child protection.
The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel's annual report 2021identified a range of dangerous themes representing significant risks to children. Some included ‘long-lasting neglect of children in the family, several times as a result of parents being overwhelmed by their own personal challenges’. The report recognised that these challenges include the physical and mental health of parents with addictions and those who were in abusive relationships.
The links between poverty, disadvantage and child neglect
It is widely documented that disadvantage and poor outcomes for children are intrinsically linked.
There are a number of risk factors that impact directly and indirectly on child poverty:
- Parenting capacity that is compromised because of poor mental/physical health or learning disabilities.
- Inability to buy or provide better environment conditions.
- External neighbourhood factors, both the social and physical environment.
- Negative adult behaviours; for example, domestic abuse or substance use, which is often exacerbated by family stress.
Child neglect is sometimes difficult to recognise and respond to. Responses and actions towards neglect taken by skilled early years practitioners will consider the impacts in relation to the child's level of need and the interventions required to address the severity of risk. Lower-level concerns and emerging child neglect can often be addressed through early interventions that involve multi-agency approaches targeted at achieving outcomes for children by involving and supporting parents. Higher levels of risks and accumulative neglect such as when significant harm is identified will require statutory service to intervene.
Domestic abuse
Given the prevalence of domestic abuse and the large extent to which it features in the lives of children, it is most important that we understand its context and legal definition to respond appropriately for children and families we are working with.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 offers a statutory definition of domestic abuse for England and Wales. This extensive definition cited in the Government's Statutory guidance (see More information) determines that domestic abuse can encompass a wide range of behaviours. Understanding how domestic abuse is defined is crucial for those working with victims whether they be adults or children. Furthermore, recognising the impacts upon victims is necessary if we are to appreciate fully the consequences that result in child abuse. The definition states that domestic abuse ‘happens to people who are personally connected over the age of 16’ and that children who are victims of domestic abuse to whom domestic abuse has been ‘directed’ experience child abuse. This means that the abuse mostly categorised as emotional abuse that young children experience will impact upon them in various harmful ways. The guidance recognises that some of these impacts include many things for younger children. They may:
- feel anxious or depressed
- have low self-esteem
- have difficulties sleeping and nightmares
- experience physical symptoms such as stomach aches or bed wetting
- maintain a state of hypervigilance, constantly reading body language and anticipating outbursts or unpredictable behaviours
- have delayed development or a deterioration in sleep or language communication
- show an inability or inconsistency in regulating their emotions.
Reviews where domestic abuse is identified as a factor may include all categories of child abuse such as emotional, physical, sexual abuse and neglect.
Recognising and responding to the vulnerability of babies and children under one
Concerns continue to grow in respect of the numbers of children under the age of one who feature in case reviews. Babies that do attend settings have opportunities to be seen regularly, and even babies who do not directly attend themselves and who are possibly siblings of nursery children, such as vulnerable children accessing funded childcare, can be placed on the safeguarding radar.
Startling figures from the Institute of Health Visiting in its 2023 UK survey report show the extent to which the vulnerabilities of babies are further magnified due to poverty and the current cost-of-living crisis. Against the backdrop of a reduction in health visiting services, early years settings are constantly stepping into the breach.
Strategies that provide protective factors for babies who either attend or are known to early years settings offer preventative, early intervention and child protection outcomes and may include the following:
- Opportunities for offering advice and modelling safe sleep practices for parents to follow.
- Policies and procedures that respond to injuries in non-mobile children.
- A wide understanding of child development and the ability to identify when a child's wellbeing or protection is compromised.
- Effective relationships between practitioners and parents that provide a catalyst of support helping to broker other service support or signposting to specialist services.
- Recognition of parental stress factors that impact upon young children.
- Understanding extra-familial threats and risks to children such as association with criminality and exploitation of children and adults in the wider community.
- Regular or frequent opportunities of contact and connection between themselves, parents and wider community help and support.
The ability to draw upon knowledge of children, their family circumstances and wider community impacts means that early years practitioners are best placed to recognise and respond to their safeguarding needs.
Contextualising such knowledge means that focusing on meeting the unique needsof children in our settings is prioritised and not distracted from by other less relevant or obscure factors.
Rachel Buckler's new book, Developing Child-Centred Practice for Safeguarding and Child Protection: Strategies for Every Early Years Setting (2023) is available at www.routledge.com.
CASE STUDY: Dawn Gibbons, operations director, Sunflower Nursery, Tameside
‘Child A started nursery when they were two years old, being eligible for funding. Child A was one of three children under six, and at the commencement of their nursery place they lived in a homeless refuge.
‘The mother was known to the police due to a number of drug offences, engaging in prostitution and having had convictions for theft. At one point, social care had removed her children into the care of the local authority. Child A's father was in prison as a result of drug offences.
‘During the time that child A attended the nursery, community neighbours told us that the child and their siblings were left to fend for themselves and were often seen playing in the street until late at night. We initially raised our concerns with social care, but they did not respond to the seriousness of our concern until we challenged this by escalating the matter to more senior officers within children's services.
‘We met the needs of child A while they were in nursery by feeding and clothing them, and by continuously monitoring and reporting the extent of child neglect they were experiencing. Finally, after persistent reporting from the nursery, a visit by social care to the family home took place and the children were found to be home alone. All children were removed, placed into foster care and eventually adopted.’
MORE INFORMATION
- Statutory guidance: Domestic Abuse Act 2021(2022). Gov.UK
- State of Health Visiting (2023). Institute of Health Visiting
- Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel: annual report 2021(2022). Crown Publications
- The Relationship Between Poverty and Child Abuse and Neglect: New Evidence (2022). University of Huddersfield
- Developing Child-Centred Practice for Safeguarding and Child Protection(2023). Routledge