Consulting children and young people about abuse & danger

The Help Keep Us Safe Project is a collaborative research project between X University and the YYY Borough Children’s Services. The project will consult two populations of young people living in YYY Borough, London, England.... [ view full abstract ]

The Help Keep Us Safe Project is a collaborative research project between X University and the YYY Borough Children’s Services. The project will consult two populations of young people living in YYY Borough, London, England. As recent events in Rotherham, England, and elsewhere have demonstrated (Jay 2014), the risks and dangers encountered by children and young people are often poorly understood by those around them.
Key Aims :
1. To explore the opinions of young people living in YYY aged 11-18 about what risks they face and helps to keep them safe
2. To identify key messages on the effectiveness of YYY’s current child protection procedures and to identify areas for improvement, from a service-user perspective
Sample & Method
The project has two participant groups of young people from YYY
• Young people aged 11-18 attending YYY secondary education. The target number of completed electronic questionnaires is 100, with up to 600 pupils invited to participate.
• Young people aged 8-18 who used to be subject to a YYY child protection plan. The target number of completed interviews is 12.
Data Collection
This will take place in January-March 2016. The pilot survey took place in November 2015.
Results
The pilot survey identified groups of men who the female respondents were afraid of. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will enable collection of further detail about perceived dangers and the protective processes that might be helpful.
The data will be analysed in April 2016.
Conclusion
The key messages will be presented to the YYY Safeguarding Board, for their consideration in planning service improvements. Adolescents are a high risk and vulnerable safeguarding population. Updating understandings of the risks they face will facilitate the targeting of protective services that are effective and accessible.