{"id":49414,"date":"2019-09-13T14:19:23","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T21:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=49414"},"modified":"2019-09-13T14:19:23","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T21:19:23","slug":"teenagers-are-vulnerable-too-how-social-workers-are-trying-new-ways-to-keep-them-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teenagers-are-vulnerable-too-how-social-workers-are-trying-new-ways-to-keep-them-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenagers are vulnerable too \u2013 how social workers are trying new ways to keep them safe"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Over the past four decades the child protection system in England has increasingly\u00a0concentrated on preventing<\/a>\u00a0the abuse and neglect of young children in their homes. In response to multiple government inquiries, such as those following the killing of eight-year-old\u00a0Victoria Climbi\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0and 17-month-old,\u00a0Peter Connelly<\/a>\u00a0(known as \u201cBaby P\u201d), the focus has been to reduce risk and prevent the abuse and neglect of young children by those looking after them.<\/p>\n

But with this focus on younger children and the harm posed by parents and carers, the system largely stopped considering risks that young people, particularly teenagers, face when they leave their front door. This has left teenagers under-protected.<\/p>\n

Young people have been groomed and sexually abused by adults across towns and cities throughout the UK in\u00a0high-profile<\/a>\u00a0cases of child sexual exploitation. Reports are also emerging of teenagers exploited by criminal gangs who use them as drug runners or to move money between different areas of the country along what are\u00a0known as \u201ccounty lines\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Teenagers exploited in this way are often victim to physical, emotional and sexual abuse as a form of control or punishment and are frequently trafficked to areas far away from their family and friends.<\/p>\n

The bigger picture<\/h4>\n

When it comes to safeguarding \u2013 protecting children\u2019s rights and promoting their well-being \u2013 adolescents require a different response to younger children and to adults. Across the UK there are many well-respected approaches to safeguarding young people from harm that happens outside the home, such as the long-established\u00a0No Knives, Better Lives<\/a>\u00a0in Scotland, which has contributed to a significant reduction in knife crime.<\/p>\n

In England,\u00a0two recent approaches<\/a>\u00a0gaining attention include \u201ccontextual safeguarding\u201d and \u201ccomplex safeguarding\u201d. Both of these bring together social workers and traditional child protection agencies, such as the police and healthcare professionals, with other less traditional groups, such as taxi licensing and public transport companies, to help keep children safe.<\/p>\n

Contextual safeguarding has been initially piloted in the London borough of\u00a0Hackney<\/a>, led by researcher Carlene Firmin from the University of Bedfordshire. It considers the places that children and young people go to outside their home and the relationships they make as opportunities for interventions. So this makes parks, public transport and schools all part of a possible intervention, moving away from focusing solely on the young person and the boundaries of their family life. For example, this means\u00a0including the staff<\/a>\u00a0at the local fast food restaurant in a child\u2019s intervention plan, if this location is where they are at risk of exploitation or abuse.
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