Contextual Safeguarding: the idea, the implementation and the opportunities

Bright Futures is a national education and training project aiming to reduce and prevent child sexual abuse.

Child protection systems in many countries around the world have been designed on the basis then when a child has been abused, or come to harm, that the responsibility for their protection rests with their parents and carers. Yet cases of exploitation, peer-abuse and street-based violence affecting young people has demonstrated a need to look beyond parents if we want to protect children from the risks they face beyond their front doors. In this webinar Prof. Carlene Firmin from Durham University UK will introduce the idea of Contextual Safeguarding; where it came from and how it has been used to transform the response of child welfare systems in the UK, and beyond, to extra-familial forms of abuse. During the webinar Carlene will share the key features of implementation that have been identified as the approach has been gradually piloted and adopted in different test locations, and will reflect on why leadership from social care and wider child welfare organisations is paramount for protecting children abused beyond their front doors. She will outline opportunities for further development of the idea in Australia and other countries outside the UK, and what she hopes such testing will mean for advocates of the approach in the UK.

About the presenter

Dr Carlene Firmin Professor of Social Work, Durham University Professorial Convenor of their Sociology Department's research group on Communities and Social Justice