Prioritising Protection: the role of children’s services and wider safeguarding partnerships in protecting young people impacted by extra-familial harm
The Youth Endowment Fund has commissioned a research partnership to undertake two studies into the role of children’s services, within wider multi-agency safeguarding responses, to child criminal exploitation and other forms of extra-familial harm. One study is focused on strategic arrangements, with a particular focus on Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships in England and Local Safeguarding Partnerships in Wales (collectively referred to as safeguarding arrangements for the purpose of the project), and the role of children’s services within these working alongside police, health and other safeguarding partners. The second study is focused on operational arrangements, with specific attention paid to the scale, roles and remit of multi-agency panels which coordinate safeguarding responses to extra-familial harm, including (but not exclusive of) those referred to as Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) panels.
Findings from both projects will be combined into a single study, and associated report, to inform the Youth Endowment Fund’s work to develop Practice Guidance and Systems Guidance on the role of Children’s Services in preventing and responding to violence affecting young people. It will also generate insights into safeguarding multi-agency practices more widely, which in turn will inform other interdependent workstreams in the Youth Endowment Fund focused on sectors including policing, health, youth work and education amongst others.
Who is involved?
The work is being led by Professor Carlene Firmin at Durham University’s Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding (GCCS), with a team that brings together:
- Research in Practice (RiP) – national leaders in applied research and practice development
- The Association of Safeguarding Partners (TASP) – the national membership body for LSCPs
- Policing's Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme (VKPP), hosted by the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection. The VKPP aims to improve policing responses to vulnerable individuals
This partnership brings together sector knowledge, academic rigour, trusted relationships, and direct access to safeguarding professionals across England and Wales.
What is the research about?
There are two linked studies, both of which consider the role of children’s services in safeguarding children from extra-familial harm in the context of wider multi-agency structures and partnerships:
- Safeguarding Arrangements Study: A review of how LSCPs in England and LSPs in Wales are responding strategically to child criminal exploitation and extra-familial harm (EFH), including how roles, expectations and arrangements set out in law and guidance are being met in practice.
- Multi-agency Panel Study: A review of how multi-agency panels (including those referred to as MACE panels) support operational safeguarding responses to extra-familial harm, examining their structures, purpose, effectiveness and connection to child protection and wider safeguarding processes, pathways and practices.
The two projects are being delivered as one combined study to reduce the burden on local areas and provide a joined-up picture of how strategic and operational responses work together.
How will the research be carried out?
The research team will combine methods that broadly examine national trends and patterns across England and Wales and provide detailed accounts of local practice including:
National methods
- A rapid evidence assessment of multi-agency strategic and operational practices in England and Wales, with specific questions about the role of children’s services and the role of safeguarding partners in collaborating with them
- A review of case reviews (published and unpublished) where extra-familial harm was a factor, identifying the roles played by multi-agency partnerships and recommendations made to them
- A national survey of Safeguarding Arrangement Business Managers in England and Wales, exploring strategic activity and arrangements, and facilitators/barriers of that activity
- A survey of chairs of operational multi-agency safeguarding panels concerned with extra-familial harm (including Police and Social Care perspectives)
- National interviews and focus groups with service leaders, practitioners, chairs, scrutineers, and policymakers
- A review of local multi-agency panel protocols and documentation
Local methods
- 5-6 case studies of multi-agency arrangements in local authority areas. Case studies will be developed using a combination of practice observation, analysis of children’s assessments and plans, documentary analysis of local procedures and strategies, professional focus groups, and workshops to map local systems and pathways.
All methods have been designed to minimise duplication and maximise relevance to both studies.
Why does this matter?
The role of children’s services in responding to extra-familial harm, and the wider safeguarding partnerships in which they work, has undergone significant transformation over the last decade. This period has seen shifts in how young people impacted by extra-familial harm are understood, with greater recognition of them as ‘at-risk’ of harm and increasing requirements on children’s services to coordinate corresponding multi-agency support. These developments have taken place in a challenging context, characterised by complex multi-agency landscapes, varying levels of national guidance and resourcing, and ongoing questions about how best to provide tailored responses to the contexts in which harm occurs. This research provides a rare opportunity to capture local experiences, highlight promising practice, and influence national policy and funding decisions for England and Wales. It will also help build a stronger evidence base around racial equity and lived experience in safeguarding responses. It will also help build a stronger evidence base around racial equity and lived experience in safeguarding responses.
Whilst the primary focus of this research is on the role of Childrens Services in convening local safeguarding processes it is essential we consider the insight and experiences of partner agencies in responding to the needs of young people in the context of extra-familial harm. The make-up of the research team is designed to consider the partnership context as far as is possible in the bounds of this commission.
What does this mean for your local area?
Local areas will be invited to participate in this project via different means.
- 5-6 areas will be selected as case study sites to participate in in-depth local data collection across their strategic and operational partnerships
- Business managers of all LSCPs in England and LSPs in Wales will be surveyed and invited to submit their partnership strategies and redacted rapid reviews
- Children’s services departments across England and Wales will be contacted to ascertain multi-agency panel arrangements, after which the chairs of those panels (from children’s services and policing) will be surveyed and invited to submit that panel protocols
- Multi-agency partners who contribute to LSCPs/LSPs or operational safeguarding panels will be invited to participate in national interviews
If you choose to participate, this could offer a valuable opportunity to reflect on your local practice and receive early access to findings and learning.
More widely, we hope the research will lead to a stronger, sector-wide understanding of the challenges and opportunities around safeguarding children impacted by criminal exploitation and other forms of extra-familial harm —supporting both strategic and operational improvement in safeguarding systems and clarifying the roles of children’s services within these.