WORKING WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AT RISK OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT

In child protection work, where the child or young person is rarely a voluntary service user, there is often the challenge of how to balance the rights of the child with their safety and well-being. Children and young people at risk of abuse and neglect come to the attention of social workers primarily from concerned professionals, family members or friends, or where abuse or neglect has been witnessed or is suspected. Disclosures made by children seeking help remain relatively rare (Jobe and Gorin, 2013). Although child-centred practice is ideally ‘set to the child’s pace rather than driven by adult or service-centred timescales’ (Lefevre, 2010: 26), there are instances where the social worker has limited information in their first interaction with a young person and needs to act without delay. More often, the social worker is involved in longer-term interventions in order to assess and manage risk, maintaining a focus on the overall welfare of the child as well as their immediate safety. Ensuring child-centred practice is hugely challenging in this complex area of work. This chapter considers how to work effectively with children and young people at risk of abuse and neglect. We explore risk factors that impact on the welfare of children and in some cases constitute child abuse.