On the margins of the child protection system: creating space for relational social work practice

What is it about?

Child Protection practice is accompanied by regulation, protocols and procedures all intended to achieve a coordinated multi-agency response to identified concerns about children with resources targeted towards this 'child protection' category. It is well known however, that children assessed as falling just below the Child Protection threshold can still have high levels of need and risk, requiring a level of social work involvement beyond the low-resource and low-oversight model that generally accompanies a Child in Need categorisation. This paper probes an approach to practice which divides levels of risk within the Child in Need category enabling adequate, coordinated support and oversight to be provided for children and families with complex needs. Evidence from our study evaluating this approach suggests that a simple protocol provided a clear process within which social workers and agency partners felt confident and safe to practice outside of the formal Child Protection framework. The protocol prevented drift and helped to create a space within which relational social work practice flourished. Guy Kirk & Robbie Duschinsky

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Why is it important?

For cases that do not meet statutory thresholds for enquiry for serious harm, the Protocol provides a potentially conducive context for working in a way that does not frighten families and is more of a partnership. This approach may therefore offer the possibility of creating (or re-instating) space for relational social work practice within the proceduralised and performance driven landscape dominating the UK safeguarding system. Guy Kirk & Robbie Duschinsky