Beyond families: Contextual approaches to safeguarding young people from peer-on-peer exploitation and abuse

Objective In the UK a third of child sexual exploitation cases are peer-on-peer. This study sought to explore the implications of applying ‘contextual safeguarding’ theory when responding to the phenomenon. Contextual... [ view full abstract ]

Objective
In the UK a third of child sexual exploitation cases are peer-on-peer. This study sought to explore the implications of applying ‘contextual safeguarding’ theory when responding to the phenomenon. Contextual safeguarding theory recognises that peer-abuse escalates in public contexts such as parks, schools and peer groups, and requires practitioners to identify, assess and intervene with escalating risks in these environments. In doing so it extends child protection practice beyond familial contexts to better safeguard adolescents.

Method
The study was undertaken in eleven multi-agency partnerships (sites) across England in two phases. During phase one, observations of multi-agency meetings, reviews of strategic documents and practitioner interviews were used to audit whether existing practices engaged with the social environments in which peer-abuse occurred. During phase two, practitioners used the audit to identify practice areas for contextualisation, and researchers monitored their practice adaptation using the same audit the methods.

Results
By applying the principles of contextual safeguarding during phase two, multi-agency partnerships moved beyond familial contexts to assess and intervene with social environments associated to peer-abuse. Practices advanced to include: mapping peer groups to coordinate 1:1 interventions that were being delivered to socially-connected young people; profiling schools associated to trends of peer-abuse; using intervention plans to address neighbourhood-based risk factors.

Conclusions
Contextual safeguarding provides a lens through which to recognise that child and family interventions are insufficient to address peer-abuse, when this phenomenon is largely associated to social environments that are beyond parental control. Adaptations made in participating sites call into question the relevance of UK child protection policies that are yet to recognise the importance of social environments in safeguarding young people. Such learning is transferable to any country where child protection policies primarily engage with abuse in familial contexts while peer-abuse presents a risk of significant harm in public spaces.