Improving social care systems and practices for safeguarding young people at complex risk: what promotes and sustains innovation?
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sussex
Department Name: Sch of Education and Social Work
Abstract
A key challenge for children's social care is how to improve service experiences and outcomes for some of the most vulnerable members of our society in the face of complex social problems, increased demand for services, greater public accountability and pressure on public spending. Incremental improvement to traditional service systems and structures is not always sufficient to address intractable issues, such as child sexual exploitation, which are resistant to any clear-cut, unidimensional or standardised remedies. Innovation is increasingly being mooted as a way of fundamentally rethinking the nature of such practice problems and transforming (often radically) the ways that services are structured and delivered. This incurs substantial investment of resource, but not enough is yet understood about the conditions, factors and processes that will allow innovation to flourish and sustain over time and to be diffused effectively. Opportunities to address gaps and deficiencies in social care provision, therefore, are not being maximised and it cannot be assumed that social investment provides best value for money.
Our four year collaborative project will address this gap in knowledge, providing invaluable insight into the stages of innovation over time, and identifying what practice or system innovations require to maximise their potential for addressing service objectives, improving experiences and outcomes for young people and families, and achieving value for money. The processes of innovation can only be studied in context, so we will investigate how six social care organisations or networks across the UK have innovated in practice services or systems to address the 'complex safeguarding' risks that vulnerable young people face at the intersection of their family, peer, social and environmental contexts, such as exploitation and gang association. More specifically, we will scrutinise how the six sites have interpreted and operationalised one of three flexible conceptual frameworks which allow for nuanced and situated innovation to address complex safeguarding risks: Trauma-Informed Practice, Contextual Safeguarding or Transitional Safeguarding. The detailed scrutiny of our multi-method case study design will enable us to uncover the various stages of innovation in real time, within organisations and systems, and in their varied cultural, geographical and regulatory contexts. Existing theories of innovation will be tested and scrutinised critically alongside theories of organisational development and change management, and systemic and psychosocial theories, to create new cross-disciplinary understandings which could then have relevance to wider innovation practice. Any evidence of improved outcomes, positive service user experience and cost-efficiency associated with these innovations will be established. Circles of engagement and influence with a wider group of social care organisations, in the UK and overseas, will allow emergent findings to be tested in more diverse contexts, and to generate and capture impact.
Our project will inform the development of future innovation, both in complex safeguarding and in social care and public services more broadly. Our findings will lead to the development of a critical sociology of complex safeguarding and a practice model that: collaborates with young people and families as partners; supports practitioners and services in assessing and addressing peer, environmental, individual and familial risks; ensures the impact of trauma on young people and practitioners is understood and mitigated; and respects young people's support and protection needs alongside their rights to autonomy, privacy, and voice. A comprehensive programme of engagement, knowledge exchange and impact generation with communities of practice, engagement and interest will diffuse findings and provide evidence of benefit to stakeholders.
Our four year collaborative project will address this gap in knowledge, providing invaluable insight into the stages of innovation over time, and identifying what practice or system innovations require to maximise their potential for addressing service objectives, improving experiences and outcomes for young people and families, and achieving value for money. The processes of innovation can only be studied in context, so we will investigate how six social care organisations or networks across the UK have innovated in practice services or systems to address the 'complex safeguarding' risks that vulnerable young people face at the intersection of their family, peer, social and environmental contexts, such as exploitation and gang association. More specifically, we will scrutinise how the six sites have interpreted and operationalised one of three flexible conceptual frameworks which allow for nuanced and situated innovation to address complex safeguarding risks: Trauma-Informed Practice, Contextual Safeguarding or Transitional Safeguarding. The detailed scrutiny of our multi-method case study design will enable us to uncover the various stages of innovation in real time, within organisations and systems, and in their varied cultural, geographical and regulatory contexts. Existing theories of innovation will be tested and scrutinised critically alongside theories of organisational development and change management, and systemic and psychosocial theories, to create new cross-disciplinary understandings which could then have relevance to wider innovation practice. Any evidence of improved outcomes, positive service user experience and cost-efficiency associated with these innovations will be established. Circles of engagement and influence with a wider group of social care organisations, in the UK and overseas, will allow emergent findings to be tested in more diverse contexts, and to generate and capture impact.
Our project will inform the development of future innovation, both in complex safeguarding and in social care and public services more broadly. Our findings will lead to the development of a critical sociology of complex safeguarding and a practice model that: collaborates with young people and families as partners; supports practitioners and services in assessing and addressing peer, environmental, individual and familial risks; ensures the impact of trauma on young people and practitioners is understood and mitigated; and respects young people's support and protection needs alongside their rights to autonomy, privacy, and voice. A comprehensive programme of engagement, knowledge exchange and impact generation with communities of practice, engagement and interest will diffuse findings and provide evidence of benefit to stakeholders.
Planned Impact
This project will build cross-disciplinary critical understandings of how, why and where innovation happens in social care, identifying the conditions, factors and processes which lead to innovative ideas being conceived, implemented, tested, sustained, scaled, and spread, within and across organisations and systems. Understanding will be enhanced of the facilitators, capabilities, inhibitors and barriers to innovations which address the challenges of complex safeguarding risks in adolescence, particularly new intervention methods, services or systems which operationalise the approaches of Trauma-Informed Practice, Contextual Safeguarding and Transitional Safeguarding. Any evidence of improved outcomes for service users, positive service user experience and cost-efficiency associated with these innovations will also be revealed through this.
The new knowledge and related outputs produced through the project will indirectly benefit vulnerable young people and their families, who should see improvements in both their experience of practice interventions and the outcomes of their involvement with services. Commissioners and service providers within social care, and across other agencies within the multidisciplinary safeguarding system will benefit directly through information about whether the innovative methods, services and systems merit take-up, scaling and spreading. This will enable them to make evidence-informed decisions about whether and how they might support and diffuse innovations over time and in context, in the face of complex social problems, increased demand for services, greater public accountability and pressure on public spending. The critical sociology of complex safeguarding that will be constructed will benefit academic and professional understanding of the intractable issues which straddle disciplinary and organisational boundaries and are resistant to clear-cut, unidimensional or standardised solutions. The new knowledge will facilitate innovation and new cross-disciplinary academic understandings in the field of adolescent risk and complex safeguarding, enabling a re-visioning and transformation of practice methods, services and systems. The resources produced for the social care field, including learning tools and a new practice framework or model, will directly benefit practitioners and organisations; they will be able to improve single- and multi-agency responses and develop coordinated approaches to addressing complex safeguarding risks and needs. The opportunities for situated and reflexive learning, provided by our communities of practice, engagement and influence, will promote diffusion of new understandings widely and rapidly across the sector, spreading the field of influence.
The new knowledge will have direct relevance for policy makers (Social Care Wales, Scottish Social Services Council, Dept. for Education, Northern Ireland Social Care Council), sector leaders (ADCS, SCIE, the What Works Centre in Children's Social Care), innovation experts, think tanks and funders (e.g. InnovateUK, NESTA, Public Health England, Impetus-PEF, the Institute for Govt., the Big Lottery Fund), practice networks (Local Safeguarding Children's Boards, Principal Social Workers' Network, RiP Partners Network, the Coalition of Care & Support Providers in Scotland, the Improvement Network: Northern Ireland), service user groups (e.g. Become, Coram, the Family Rights Group, Young Minds, Catch 22), and other public services (e.g. youth justice, police, housing, probation, child and adolescent mental health services, sexual health, and education). Whilst the new knowledge was created in the UK, and has specific relevance for that geographical and cultural setting, the circles of engagement and influence with our international partners will enable us to test the transferability of new understandings for benefiting academic study and professional multi-disciplinary practice and service delivery internationally.
The new knowledge and related outputs produced through the project will indirectly benefit vulnerable young people and their families, who should see improvements in both their experience of practice interventions and the outcomes of their involvement with services. Commissioners and service providers within social care, and across other agencies within the multidisciplinary safeguarding system will benefit directly through information about whether the innovative methods, services and systems merit take-up, scaling and spreading. This will enable them to make evidence-informed decisions about whether and how they might support and diffuse innovations over time and in context, in the face of complex social problems, increased demand for services, greater public accountability and pressure on public spending. The critical sociology of complex safeguarding that will be constructed will benefit academic and professional understanding of the intractable issues which straddle disciplinary and organisational boundaries and are resistant to clear-cut, unidimensional or standardised solutions. The new knowledge will facilitate innovation and new cross-disciplinary academic understandings in the field of adolescent risk and complex safeguarding, enabling a re-visioning and transformation of practice methods, services and systems. The resources produced for the social care field, including learning tools and a new practice framework or model, will directly benefit practitioners and organisations; they will be able to improve single- and multi-agency responses and develop coordinated approaches to addressing complex safeguarding risks and needs. The opportunities for situated and reflexive learning, provided by our communities of practice, engagement and influence, will promote diffusion of new understandings widely and rapidly across the sector, spreading the field of influence.
The new knowledge will have direct relevance for policy makers (Social Care Wales, Scottish Social Services Council, Dept. for Education, Northern Ireland Social Care Council), sector leaders (ADCS, SCIE, the What Works Centre in Children's Social Care), innovation experts, think tanks and funders (e.g. InnovateUK, NESTA, Public Health England, Impetus-PEF, the Institute for Govt., the Big Lottery Fund), practice networks (Local Safeguarding Children's Boards, Principal Social Workers' Network, RiP Partners Network, the Coalition of Care & Support Providers in Scotland, the Improvement Network: Northern Ireland), service user groups (e.g. Become, Coram, the Family Rights Group, Young Minds, Catch 22), and other public services (e.g. youth justice, police, housing, probation, child and adolescent mental health services, sexual health, and education). Whilst the new knowledge was created in the UK, and has specific relevance for that geographical and cultural setting, the circles of engagement and influence with our international partners will enable us to test the transferability of new understandings for benefiting academic study and professional multi-disciplinary practice and service delivery internationally.
Publications
Firmin C
(2024)
'Known to services' or 'Known by professionals': Relationality at the core of trauma-informed responses to extra-familial harm
in Children and Youth Services Review
Firmin C
(2024)
A line in the sand: Moving from surface improvement to foundational shifts to develop effective responses to extra-familial risks and harms
in The British Journal of Social Work
Hampson M
(2021)
Towards a framework for ethical innovation in children's social care
in Journal of Children's Services
Holmes L
(2024)
Value for whom? Rethinking cost-effectiveness from young people's perspective
in Health Education Journal
Huegler N
(2024)
'We were persistently othering them out': Reconceptualising 'safeguarding' for young people experiencing extra-familial risks and harms during transition to adulthood
in Health Education Journal
Huegler N
(2021)
Risk, Vulnerability and Complexity: Transitional Safeguarding as a Reframing of Binary Perspectives
in Practice
Lefevre M
(2025)
Creating a Conducive Zone for Innovation in Children's Social Care
in Health & Social Care in the Community
Lefevre M
(2023)
Towards a Synthesised Directional Map of the Stages of Innovation in Children's Social Care
in The British Journal of Social Work
| Description | FINDING 1: THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF SOCIAL CARE INNOVATION AND THE CONDITIONS IT REQUIRES TO FLOURISH • Social care innovation should adhere to the ethical principles of social work, i.e. aim to enhance service user experiences and outcomes, not just improve service efficiencies. • Key conditions that need to be in place to give social care innovation the best chance to succeed: a) a strong case with stakeholder buy-in; b) sufficient workforce capacity, skill and leadership; c) an achievable design, implemented well; d) an open, reflexive, collaborative culture that builds trust, contains anxiety and supports creative and risk-taking; e) a benign macro context. • Six key stages of the innovation journey have been identified: (i) Mobilising (prompting, understanding, persuading); (ii) Designing (discovering, generating, importing); (iii) Developing (implementing, testing, improving); (iv) Integrating (delivering, embedding, sustaining); (v) Growing (spreading, scaling, diffusing); (iv) Wider system change (transforming, restructuring, re-prompting). As challenges are endemic to the innovation journey in social care, the desirability of pausing, revisiting earlier stages, or even ending the innovation, should always be considered. • Substantial time will be needed for new cultures and practices to embed and even longer needed for service user outcomes to be impacted; this should be built into timescales for projects and evaluations. FINDING 2: WIDER SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION IS NEEDED TO RESPOND EFFECTIVELY TO CHILDREN AT RISK BEYOND THE HOME/FAMILY Our evidence review found that effective service approaches to addressing extra-familial harm shared 5 features: (i) they build support and safety through trusted relationships between young people and professionals, family or other protective adults; (ii) they provide an integrated response across agencies driven by shared policies, definitions and principles; (iii) they directly tackle risky/harmful context(s) and damaging structural factors; (iv) they address specific dynamics associated with extra-familial harm; (v) they are youth-centred. While there is commitment to change through innovation and practice improvement measures, attempts to improve youth safeguarding in England are continually undermined by macro-level social care systems which are unable to adequately address the complexities of extra-familial harm. Services and practice guidance is fundamentally designed around individual assessments and interventions, which do not effectively address the contextual and relational dynamics of extra-familial harm. Intervention approaches and decision-making forums are primarily focused on risk management rather than creating safe and supportive environments for young people. There is a persistent tension between criminal justice outcomes and the welfare needs of young people, particularly those involved in criminal activities as a result of exploitation. Safeguarding systems often ignore or reproduce structural and institutional discrimination, failing to address the broader social and economic factors that contribute to extra-familial harm. Austerity measures in public funding mean workloads can rarely provide sufficient time for relational working and reflexive practice. A step-change change will not occur in youth safeguarding without systemic and structural reforms that address the underlying causes of harm and provide a welfare-oriented re-envisioning of the statutory social work role to ensure young people's needs for both support and protection are met FINDING 3: THE BENEFITS OF CONTEXTUAL SAFEGUARDING, TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICE AND TRANSITIONAL SAFEGUARDING IN YOUTH SAFEGUARDING These three approaches offer a promising innovation triad for responding to young people affected by extra-familial harm but have yet to evidence their individual effectiveness. None offers a system template to be manualised for adoption elsewhere, but rather a framework which requires interpretation and operationalisation at a local level to tailor services and systems for 'fit'. Co-production with young people and parents remains emergent in each approach; it needs to be better prioritised and resourced from the start by implementation sites if it is to be meaningful. As CONTEXTUAL SAFEGUARDING's aspiration to address risk in contexts is additional to what children's social care would normally do, it is likely to be more expensive than conventional approaches to extra-familial harm. The positive indicators of the impact of Contextual Safeguarding on systems and practices in one site suggests the possibility of future impact outcomes and value for money, so we conclude the approach merits scaling and spreading. The system-wide nature of TRANSITIONAL SAFEGUARDING makes it particularly slow, iterative and challenging to implement, but developments in the UK are progressing, where there is joint and shared leadership commitment from Adult and Children's social care, with support from other statutory and voluntary sector services. TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICE shows promise in: facilitating ongoing trust between professionals and young people; containing professional anxiety in order to make risk-sensible decisions; and creating working conditions in which extra-familial harm can be recognised and (to an extent) addressed. Small incremental improvements are insufficient to transform existing modalities and embed new cultures and practices and the wider policy context needs also to be sympathetic to trauma-informed goals (as it is in Scotland). Where Trauma-informed Practice and Contextual Safeguarding have been adopted in tandem, this has positively reinforced principles of welfare and social justice in practice. We recommend further trialling of these three approaches in conjunction. |
| Exploitation Route | Social care and related organisations can now use our publications, guidance and tools to inform innovation endeavours in the following ways: (1) interrogate aims and motivations to ensure innovation is the right approach ethically and practically ('DEISC Tool' and 'PEISC Framework'); (2) review current conditions in their local systems to understand strengths and areas for development ('Diamond 9' tool); (3) uncover wider system influences on their innovations to help anticipate and manage their effects ('Four Quadrants' tool); (4) Plan priority areas of action to create local system conditions more conducive to innovation ('Roadmap' tool); (5) determine readiness to progress to the next innovation stage ('Stages of Innovation' and 'Ecocycles' frameworks). In conjunction with findings on extra-familial harm and the three approaches, social care organisations can determine if innovation (i.e. system-disruption and transformation) is more appropriate than incremental practice improvement measures. The above tools can enable design and implementation of interventions and services that (a) directly address the dynamics of extra-familial harm and (b) challenge the contexts and structural factors that sustain them, in ways that are more (c) relational, (d) interagency, (e) youth-centred, (f) trauma-informed, (g) transitional, and (h) collaborative, inclusive and respectful of young people and their parents/carers. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
| URL | https://theinnovateproject.co.uk/ |
| Description | Although the funded project has ended, we have continued to generate and capture over time further evidence of what difference our research and engagement has made in the statutory social care sector, with interagency partnerships, in the voluntary sector, and with policymakers/sector leaders. Evidence of our influence is mainly modest and incremental at this stage, but there is some specific and clear evidence at a child-outcome level, generated through engagement with four groups: the research sites; learning and development network; wider practice sector; policymakers and sector leaders. 1. Impact within the research sites: Through the four years of the Innovate Project, the study's emergent findings were shared and drawn upon in regular meetings with leaders of the six sites (local authorities, social care organisations and interagency safeguarding networks planning or implementing innovations to improve their service responses to young people and families affected by extra-familial risks and harms). The sites drew iteratively and reflexively on this learning to: a) understand better what innovation entails and requires; b) consider the implications of our emergent findings about effective professional responses to extra-familial harm for their own innovation and practice improvement; c) determine whether their systems were conducive for innovation and how this might be improved; d) plan and implement innovations, including in partnerships; and e) bid successfully for enhanced resources. The majority of the sites have fed back to us that these reflexive 'learning partnerships' supported them in: a) managing the emotions evoked by innovation's risky and uncertain nature; b) staying motivated and able to progress change processes despite significant barriers, including periods of disruption and stagnation; and c) capturing data that could be used to evidence the validity of further resources and scaling the approach. In line with each site's theory of change, and as new processes embed, we expect to see over the next 1-3 years improvements in how young people and parents experience the new services and interventions, and indicators within various data forms of improved wellbeing and safety outcomes for young people. 2. Influencing within the learning and development network Through the study and beyond we have kept engaged with 15-20 sites within our Innovate Project Learning and Development Network. This is a community of practice of early adopters of the approaches to extra-familial risks and harms which our six sites have been trialling. The network participants have drawn from our emergent findings on innovation processes, approaches to addressing extra-familial harm, what system pattern and outcome data is needed to inform service planning and evaluation, and how to determine the value for money of a new approach. Impact at this stage is similarly early and tentative but there are some specific examples that we have logged and which are noted in an ESRC-commissioned case study of our impact in children's services. Professionals in the sites are telling us that they understand better the risks that young people experience and how they might improve their individual responses. Leaders and managers advise us that they are drawing on the findings to review and shape their planning and implementation of new approaches and to critically examine current/ongoing approaches. It is too early as yet to see how these changes will translate into improved child-level outcomes, but we further evidence of this might accrue over the next 1-3 years, if we decide that it is worth putting further time and resource to this. 3. Engagement with the wider practice sector Our third level of engagement is with the wider social care sector with whom we have been sharing our findings through formal publications, infographics and tools on our website, webinars, and a conference. We have evidence of substantial engagement (e.g. downloads of open access books, webinar attendance) and potentially could do more targeted tracking going forward to capture specific impacts - but this will take time and resource. 4. With policymakers and sector leaders: As our findings have become increasingly refined at a conceptual level, we are now beginning to engage policymakers/system leaders with how macro systems need to adapt if the changes to policy and practice that we are recommended are to gain traction, e.g. a planned webinar, and a submission to a government consultation. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | A key project monograph disseminating findings to influence the practice sector is being translated into Arabic |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Description | Acknowledgement of my contribution to a public consultation (the Jay Review 2024) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | The evidence submitted by Michelle, in relation to the nature of extra-familial harm and how practice should be developed, was accepted. When the report was published in 2024, making strong recommendations for policy and practice reform, it specifically thanked Michelle for the contribution towards the report (see p. 87 https://media.actionforchildren.org.uk/documents/Shattered_Lives_Stolen_Futures_Report_-_Full_Report.pdf) |
| URL | https://media.actionforchildren.org.uk/documents/Shattered_Lives_Stolen_Futures_Report_-_Full_Report... |
| Description | CPD module on innovation for social care leaders and practitioners |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://theinnovateproject.co.uk/about-the-project/cpd-module-at-sussex/ |
| Description | Devon Children's Services used the Innovate Project's findings and innovation practice tools to facilitate their innovation work |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | Devon Children's Services drew on the Innovate Project's findings about youth safeguarding and the innovation practice tools produced to better understand their strengths and areas for development, and to plan priority areas of action. The service experienced that a shared perspective and sense of purpose had built up through this learning. As a result, Devon has been able to rethink some key aspects of their youth safeguarding approach and gain strategic level permission for further developments such as preventative work with young people in the community. This example has featured in a UKRI case study on 'Creating positive change in children's social care' which was commissioned and published by UKRI at https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/how-we-are-doing/research-outcomes-and-impact/esrc/creating-positive-change-in-childrens-social-care/. |
| URL | https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/how-we-are-doing/research-outcomes-and-impact/esrc/creating-positive... |
| Description | Emergent project findings on extra-familial risks experienced by young people are being used in Continuing Professional Development courses for social workers |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | In 2020 and 2021, the Innovate Project findings are informing postgraduate teaching for social work practitioners and managers on continuing professional development courses - the PG Cert, PG Dip and MA in Effective Practice and the PG Cert, PG Dip and MA in Leadership and Management. This includes sessions by PI Lefevre and Co-I Hickle on young people and risk, Trauma-informed Practice, and Child Sexual Exploitation. These modular Postgraduate courses are delivered primarily to local authority staff in the South-East, who are sponsored on their study by their employers. Employers continue to commission this delivery from us year on year due to the high quality content and their satisfaction with how this improves the knowledge and skills of their staff. |
| URL | http://www.sussex.ac.uk/esw/internal/departments/socialwork/pgcourses |
| Description | Explicit use of project infographics on the Stages of Innovation by a local authority in our 'community of practice' |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The local authority described itself as in the growing, mobilising and developing stages of innovation and how our infographic was enabling them to review and structure progress with their pilot system. |
| Description | Extensive downloads of an open access book from the project |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/display/book/9781447367277/9781447367277.xml |
| Description | Included in case recording guidance for Adult Social Care in one local authority |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | This service was adopting a trauma informed approach to service delivery and ethos and we engaged in a knowledge exchange conversation with the Principal Social Worker of the service regarding how our study findings could be of use in their service developments. We had produced an infographic through this study on how to do case recording in ways that reflect a trauma-informed approach. The directorate is including the infographic in its new Recording Practice Guidance to provide clear and concrete examples of, and guidance on, trauma-informed recording. |
| Description | Influencing innovation practice in the social care sector by providing webinar learning on 'What helps innovation flourish and sustain' |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| URL | https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/children/content-pages/videos/innovation-in-response-to-extra-... |
| Description | International knowledge exchange - Introducing a trauma-informed approach to address extra-familial risks and harms |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | Following this webinar, many of the participants (approximately 33%) asked to receive the slides so that they can use them in their organisational settings and present them to fellow staff. Also, participants asked to receive the practice resource presented so they could use it on a daily basis in their settings (how to write about young people in a trauma-informed way). |
| URL | https://theinnovateproject.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Introducing-a-trauma-informed-approach-w... |
| Description | International knowledge exchange -What works in helping young people affected by extra-familial risks and harms |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | Positive feedback received about new learning and considerations for practice improvement. |
| Description | Invited seminar on Contextual Safeguarding to the Frontline social work training by Prof. Carlene Firmin |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Invited to be on the Expert advisory group for an NIHR-funded applied research collaboration on social care implementation research |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The SC-ImpRes project, for which Lefevre was part of the Expert Advisory Group, has produced 'A practical guide to designing and conducting implementation research in social care'. Lefevre is named in this, as part of the group which has informed the development of this tool. |
| URL | https://arc-sl.nihr.ac.uk/sc-impres-social-care-implementation-research-guide |
| Description | Our contribution was sought to the government Department of Education's consultation on the new edition of Working Together 2023 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | The new Working Together guidance was issued in December 2023. I advised the Extra-familial Harm team that, while the pilot of Contextual Safeguarding had demonstrated the approach could act as the basis for a feasible system, and had led to improvements in professional practices, there was not clear evidence that the approach had contributed to improved safety and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people. As a consequence, Contextual Safeguarding was not included in the new version of Working Together. |
| Description | Our engagement with a local authority in relation to our findings on Transitional Safeguarding facilitated their application for further funding to support them in furthering their innovation |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | Our engagement with a local authority in relation to our findings on Transitional Safeguarding facilitated their application for further funding to support them in furthering their innovation work using this approach. |
| Description | Presentation to the House of Commons - Parliamentary hearing on Contextual Safeguarding by Prof Carlene Firmin |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Project findings on innovation processes are being used in Continuing Professional Development courses for social work leaders/ managers |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The attendees all found the session informative and useful. Those attendees who were currently in the process of implementing innovation were able to apply this to project planning. Others described being helped to think about new service initiatives. In particular, participants commented positively on being enabled to understand the theories and processes of innovation and the practicalities and challenges of its application in a social work context. A full postgraduate CPD module will now be offered to further develop this potential. |
| Description | Reflective innovation forums |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | Participants reported that the experience of attending the forums was transformative and provided radically new perspectives on their respective role and the innovation tasks they were responsible for. Ongoing relationships eith several of the participants is evolving into research impact partnerships to expand and diversify the innovations in practice that are already underway.The initiative has been written up in academic paper to be published in the Journal of Social Work Practice. |
| Description | Sector led improvement: Value for Money |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Supporting the innovation work of Wiltshire Council's Families and Children's Transformation Programme |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | Their learning from the innovation tool helped Wiltshire social care leaders who were trying to introduce the new approach of 'Transitional Safeguarding', to plan and review their progress on the different stages of the innovation journey, including understanding common barriers a team may face. Leaders in children's services were able to explain to their interagency and adult social care partners that the challenges they were experiencing in developing a Transitional Safeguarding approach were to be expected. By demonstrating the importance of "pausing, assessing, and refreshing" their approach, their programme was able to further build energy and momentum in their partnership towards the innovation goals. This example has featured in a UKRI case study on 'Creating positive change in children's social care' |
| URL | https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/how-we-are-doing/research-outcomes-and-impact/esrc/creating-positive... |
| Description | The Innovate Project model of Contextual Safeguarding is included in the five year strategy of Third Sector organisation 'Safer London', which is one of our research sites |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | https://saferlondon.org.uk/our-strategy/ |
| Description | The innovations introduced by North Lanarkshire Children and Families team, supported by the Innovate Project, were recognised in a regulatory inspection |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The publicly available Care Inspectorate report in October 2023 praised the team for its "overarching cultural change in how children's rights were promoted, trauma was understood, and how relationships were approached" and the "positive impact" it was having on how children and young people experienced services. In addition, this report noted the following aspects of positive, trauma-informed practice: o "Staff demonstrated trauma informed and relational practices, which helped children and young people experience supportive and trusting relationships with them We heard examples from staff about how trauma-informed practice was understood through child protection investigations, interviews of children and young people and in staff training. Leaders understood the impact of vicarious trauma on staff and positive support and supervision arrangements were in place." o "An overarching, cultural change in how children's rights were promoted, trauma was understood, and how relationships were approached was having a positive impact on how children and young people experienced services." o "Staff demonstrated trauma informed and relational practices, which helped children and young people experience supportive and trusting relationships with them". o Staff spoke about how a trauma-informed approach was becoming established in how they understand their work with families and with each other. o There was a cultural shift in the way that risk to young people at risk of extra-familial harm was understood. o An embedded culture of rights-based, relational practice and collaboration between young people and staff was observed. o It was found that young people spoke to staff in difficult times and that staff knew the young people well. Young people were not just 'known to the service' but known to an individual worker. o "Transition planning had been enhanced and additional support was available for children and young people who had been the subject of child protection processes". |
| URL | https://www.careinspectorate.com/images/documents/7313/North%20Lanarkshire%20joint%20insp.%20childre... |
| Description | Use of our infographic on trauma-informed recording to change case recording practices for the Personal Education Plans of Children in Care |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The service has placed the infographic on their services webpage. The service lead has fed back to use that that the service "particularly liked how the commonly used sentences we all see in so many professional reports can be reframed into language that is mindful of the impact on the future child/adult coming back to read what was written about them. The suggested sentences are very useful for people starting to change the way they write about others and it provides them with suggestions of alternatives. It's a beautiful, informative infographic that will benefit our service staff, school staff and external partners". |
| URL | https://www.eani.org.uk/services/primary-children-looked-after-advisory-service/personal-education-p... |
| Description | Webinar sharing key findings on how to create a conducive context for innovation in children's social care |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Description | Written submission to the parliamentary Education Committee in its Inquiry into Children's Social Care |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/136207/pdf/ |
| Description | provided feedback to confidential drafts of pending advice on multi-agency child protection arrangements to integrate extra-familial harm |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | Integration of extra-familial harm into national child protection processes to provide a structure through which children impacted by exploitation can have a coordinated support for social workers |
| Description | Disrupting Exploitation Phase II: Invitation to Tender for Evaluation and Cost Benefit Analysis, with Learning Partner Support |
| Amount | £169,915 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Children's Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2022 |
| End | 02/2025 |
| Description | Evaluating the embedding of a new Contextual Safeguarding system in the London Borough of Hackney |
| Amount | £89,549 (GBP) |
| Organisation | London Borough of Hackney |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2021 |
| End | 09/2022 |
| Description | Improving collaborative inter-agency systems and practice in self-neglect: identifying barriers and co-producing solutions |
| Amount | £475,212 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NIHR133885 |
| Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2022 |
| End | 12/2024 |
| Description | Social Work with Adolescents across Europe - a European Social Work Research Association Special Interest Group |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dr Kristine Hickle at Sussex University has jointly set up a new Special Interest Group as part of the European Social Work Research Association with Prof. Carlene Firmin at Durham University. The purpose of the 'Social Work with Adolescents across Europe' group is to bring together researchers in Europe interested in investigating, evidencing, and promoting social work responses for adolescents. The group provides a forum for fostering cross-national collaborations regarding: methodological advances for engaging young people in research about social work practice and systems; theorising the role of social work in responding to abuse beyond families; developing collaborative methodologies to work in partnership with parents and young people; identifying synergies and divergences across European countries in respect of how they organise responses to adolescents at risk of harm; scrutinising the definitions of 'abuse' as it pertains to adolescence and the extent to which social work research across Europe has questioned or broadened how harm is defined, understood, and/or prevented; and creating new opportunities to evidence positive outcomes of social work interventions that address the contexts and relationships in which harm occurs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof. Carlene at Durham is the co-convenor of this Special Interest Group. She has been able to share her connections with other researchers across Europe and her extensive knowledge of working in the field of extra-familial risks and harms. |
| Impact | A half-day workshop for Special Interest Group members will be held at the annual European Conference for Social Work Research held in Milan in April 2023 |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Title | The Innovate Project website |
| Description | A project website was created and has been live since July 2020 at https://theinnovateproject.co.uk/. The website is our gateway to public engagement and developing impact. In each of the sections of the website, original material emerging from the project work can already be found. For example, on the page 'All About Innovation' https://theinnovateproject.co.uk/all-about-innovation/ visitors to the website can listen to an hour long podcast which talks through key issues that the project is dealing with, e.g. how the social care sector uses a range of (sometimes divergent) definitions of innovation; how and where innovation in social care is similar to or different from innovation as defined by other areas or disciplines; how innovation overlaps with, and diverges from, service or practice improvement?. The page on Trauma-informed Practice https://theinnovateproject.co.uk/trauma-informed-practice/ has a video setting out the key tenets of this innovative approach and links to an online resource on Trauma-informed Practice developed by Co-Investigator Hickle https://padlet.com/k_hickle/TIpractice. There is also a blog which sets out our thinking-in-progress https://theinnovateproject.co.uk/blog/. All our emergent findings will be directed to the social care sector, policymakers and academic users through this website. Those interested are able to sign up for our regular email updates. We are currently setting up a Learning and Development Network of social care organisations and leaders and will be surveying them regularly on how their use of these resources is changing their practices. This will enable us to identify impact arising from our research. The findings from our research have immediate salience for the social care sector and our website enables our resources to reach a wide audience rapidly. This means that those involved in the commissioning, design and development of new social care models and practice systems will gain the knowledge they need to inform not only new approaches to addressing the extra-familial risks and harms that affect young people, but also to understand more widely how to facilitate social innovation in order to make best use of public investment. |
| Type Of Technology | e-Business Platform |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | None as yet |
| URL | https://theinnovateproject.co.uk/trauma-informed-practice/ |
| Description | 'International Opportunities for Contextual Safeguarding' webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A webinar delivered for the Innovate Project Learning and Development Networks international knowledge exchange webinar. The presentation was followed by breakout room discussions and then a whole group discussions giving participants the opportunity to reflect about the implications of the presentations for their own settings and a chance to ask questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | A presentation to Devon's Safeguarding Children Partnership 'SaFest' virtual event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of key findings from our book 'Safeguarding young people beyond the family home' and examples of contextual safeguarding responses to a multi-agency professional audience attended by over 100 participants with a chance to ask questions at the end. Participants feedback indicated they found the session very informative and valuable and organisers invited the presenter to present again at the same event next year. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | A webinar co-delivered with Safer London for parents about working in partnership with parents to respond to risk outside of the home |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 35 parents and practitioners attended a presentation about Contextual Safeguarding. They had an opportunity to learn about the approach, how Safer London (one of the partner test site of the Innovate proejct) was adopting it and a chance to ask questions and discussions at the end, with information provided about where they can access support if needed. Audience members reported they found it very informative and helpful. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | A webinar for practitioners and social care leaders on working with extra-familial harm. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The webinar presented key findings about how practitioners should work with young people affected by extra-familial risks and harms. Insights from project research into practice challenges (both ethical and practical) were shared and key areas for service development highlighted. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/children/content-pages/videos/innovation-in-response-to-extra-... |
| Description | A webinar on Trauma-informed Practice for a multi-agency audience, hosted by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory May 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 44 individuals attended a webinar on Trauma-informed Practice drawn from our project findings. The webinar was hosted by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, with presentations by Michelle Lefevre and Carlene Firmin from the Innovate Project, and Nicole Savage (from North Lanarkshire, one of our research sites). Attendees included family members, social care practitioners, lawyers, judges, CAFCASS workers, and professionals from health, education and the police. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfZ7BX6nGZQ&t=24s |
| Description | An article on the Innovate Project in the children's services magazine 'Children & Young People Now' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 'Children & Young People Now' is a professionals' magazine widely read by the children's service sector (local authority, charities, and businesses). The magazine editor attended the Innovate project steering group in May 2020 and subsequently requested further information from the team on our approach, in order to produce this magazine article, with a specific focus on the Contextual Safeguarding strand of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.cypnow.co.uk/other/article/contextual-safeguarding-policy-context |
| Description | An interview for the Childhood, Law and Policy Network online magazine about our new book |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Four project members (Lefevre, Firmin, Huegler and Peace) were interviewed for an online magazine which goes to practitioners, academics and postgraduate students with an interest in childhood law and policy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.qmul.ac.uk/clpn/news-views/book-interviews/items/interview-with-carlene-firmin-michelle-... |
| Description | Conference keynote |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | International conference (EuSARF) keynote presentation focused on 'Value for whom' drawing on the learning from the project. The presentation led to discussions and debates with colleagues internationally and invitations to present on the same topic at forthcoming international conferences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Conference keynote |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In March 2023 a keynote presentation entitled Transitional Safeguarding: Addressing the Gap Between Child and Adult Safeguarding was delivered at the Safeguarding Adolescent and Young Adults conference, hosted by Health Care Conference UK event. The audience comprised healthcare professionals, many of whom had limited exposure to transitional safeguarding.The presentation generated debate about how transitional safeguarding needs to be addressed in different contexts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Day seminar for professionals on Promising approaches for working with child criminal exploitation (by PI Lefevre and Co-I Hickle) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 80-100 professionals attended two half-day seminars (one for practitioners and one for their managers). Disciplines included social workers, social care workers, sexual health workers, and psychologists. The presentation was on improving practice in working with child exploitation and we presented the three models we are exploring in the Innovate Project. The presentations were by Michelle Lefevre (PI) and Kristine Hickle (Co-I). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Establishment by Co-I Firmin of the Contextual Safeguarding Academics Network |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The Contextual Safeguarding Academics Network was established in 2020 by the Innovate Project Co-Investigator, Dr Carlene Firmin. Academics are one of the primary audiences, and hence are not included in the listing, but postgraduate research students are another primary audience, i.e. those who are developing PhD projects related to contextual safeguarding (one of the 3 models being examined in the Innovate project). The network comprises 80 members across 68 institutions and 8 countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Filmed talking head presentation for criminology students at Strathclyde University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talking head presentation on Contextual Safeguarding for Strathclyde university drawing on recent research updates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Formal dialogues between Dez Holmes and the social care, health, justice and wider safeguarding sectors across England, introducing and exploring Transitional Safeguarding |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Project team member Dez Holmes has undertaken extensive activity related to the Innovate Project, introducing and exploring the concept of Transitional Safeguarding to professionals from social care, health, justice and wider safeguarding agencies across England. This has included more than 50 individual talks and workshops, and has also included more in-depth and ongoing targeted work with particular organisations and regions, including: - with health and social care in the NE region, to develop a region-wide Transitional Safeguarding framework; - with the Yorkshire and Humberside region, to develop a Preparing for Adulthood framework; - with the Principal Social Workers from the Greater Manchester region, to develop a framework for safeguarding young adults; - local initiatives (developing frameworks and supporting strategy development) with Camden, Suffolk, Cardiff, and Notts VRU. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| Description | Innovate Project Learning and Development Network (Transitional Safeguarding) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Innovate Project Learning and Development Network comprises social work practitioners, managers and development officers engaged in innovation in the field of transitional safeguarding. The group has met on 3 occasions over an 18 month period and provided an opportunity for the research team to share research findings and for group members to exchange their innovation experiences. Group members have commented on the value of hearing from colleagues in other settings and have acknowledged learning from the experiences shared. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| Description | Invited Keynote: Safe Spaces Event Glasgow |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation for 150 professionals to include opportunities and challenges for creating safe spaces as a route to preventing violence. My presentation focused on the use of Contextual Safeguarding in that respect. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Keynote Speech to the Third Chilean Congress on Child Abuse and Child Sexual Abuse |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Keynote speech to government, practitioners and students on system change processes and child protection to inform the development of the Chilean system |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/live/DTimLm2rtJc |
| Description | Keynote address to a practice conference (Devon County Council) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Devon County Council is one of the Innovate Project's six research sites. 'SaFest' is their yearly safeguarding conference for all practitioners involved in safeguarding activities with children and young people. Innovate Project researcher Jenny Lloyd was invited to provide a Keynote speech on the enablers and barriers to addressing harmful sexual behavior in schools. Jenny introduced attendees to a range of resources and tools for both schools and partners, and provided updates on the most recent developments within Contextual Safeguarding (one of the three project approaches we are researching). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.dcfp.org.uk/safest-2021-virtual-safeguarding-festival/#:~:text=After%20an%20extremely%20... |
| Description | Keynote at international conference on Child Maltreatment by Prof. Carlene Firmin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This keynote by Prof. Carlene Firmin at an international conference on Child Maltreatment sought to enable these health practitioners to understand the structural drivers of extra-familial risks and harms and the need for Contextual Safegaurding to be used in ways that recognises rather than reinforces these. 1000 people attended this conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Keynote speech by Co-I Hickle at a conference on trauma-informed practice run by Reading County Council |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Co-I Hickle was invited to present a keynote speech on Trauma-informed Practice at a day conference organised for its staff by Reading Council children's social care. As a result of the interest generated by this, Reading has become one of the six case study research sites for the Innovate Project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Keynote to international RCPCH practitioner conference on adolescent health by Prof. Carlene Firmin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Keynote to international conference on adolescent health under the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. 500 people were present. The keynote enabled these health practitioners to learn about the Contextual Safeguarding and the importance of professionals' relationships with young people. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | North East Directors of Children's Services Annual Contextual Safeguarding Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Keynote on processes for embedding Contextual Safeguarding to inform regional implementation plans in the North East |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | PI Lefevre's Membership of the Contextual Safeguarding Scale-up project steering group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Due to her leadership of the Innovate Project, Michelle Lefevre (PI) was invited to join the steering group for the Contextual Safeguarding Scale-up project which works with local authorities and Third Sector organisations to implement one of the three key models used by the Innovate Project. Meetings happen quarterly and Lefevre is able to feed in ongoing learning from the Innovate Project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| Description | Participation on special interest group on emotions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Participation on special interest group on emotions |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentation at a practitioner conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation by the PI, one Co-I and two researchers to approx 60 practitioners and managers from the fields of social work, health, clinical psychology, education, police at an online conference on Adolescent Safeguarding. Our presentation was: Transitional Safeguarding: Addressing the gap between child and adult safeguarding to address risks beyond the family home. This involved a 15 mins presentation and 5 mins time for questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/virtual-online-courses/safeguarding-adolescents-and-young-... |
| Description | Presentation for Haringey Safeguarding event. Keynote delivered on Contextual Safeguarding |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Safeguarding professionals presented updated findings on contextual safeguarding and its applicability in local authority contexts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Public lecture by PI Lefevre on addressing the criminal and sexual exploitation of young people |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The presentation was to members of the British Association of Social Workers - Lincoln branch - following an invitation to present. I was able to present key issues relating to the criminal and sexual exploitation of young people and share the three promising innovation approaches we are exploring in the Innovate project to address extra-familial risk and harm. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Recorded interview for Department of Education SAFE project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Recorded interview for department for education's safe project on updates to Contextual Safeguarding from practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Social Work England Webinar: Improving social care responses to extra-familial risks and harms |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of findings from our book 'Safeguarding young people beyond the family home' followed by break-out room and whole group discussions. Attended by 26 people. In the feedback form participants reported that they would review the provision of their project in relation to the five key features of promising interventions shared in the presentation and that they would consider a trauma-informed approach. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/improving-social-care-responses-to-extra-familial-harm-tickets-780710... |
| Description | Symposium at international conference (EUSARF) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Approx. 20 people attended a symposium that the project team gave at the international EUSARF conference, where we offered insights into the core conditions necessary for socially just and practice-congruent social care innovation that responds to the distinctive, contemporary safeguarding concerns facing young people in the context of extra-familial harm. Attendees fed back during the symposium that our findings resonated with practice concerns and debates in different countries and they wanted to know more about the project findings. We directed them to the published, open access resources on our website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://eusarf.org/#programme |
| Description | Talk on extra-familial risks and harms by project research fellow Nathalie Huegler |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The talk was given at the Quality Circle meeting run by the Sussex Family Justice Board. This is a bi-monthly meeting of children's lawyers and social workers to discuss current issues of concern affecting matters dealt with by the family courts. Nathalie was invited to share findings generated from the review of policy and practice guidance related to extra-familial risk and harm in adolescence, which she had conducted for the project in 2019. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Three workshops with a research site to develop their further work |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | One of the project research fellows (Delphine Peace) attended three workshops with the third sector organisation, Safer London, which is one of our research sites: Theory of Change for Peers Workshop (16.06.21) Theory of Change for Places Workshop (8.07.21) Theory of Change for Places Workshop (4.08.21) The workshops aimed to develop overarching outcomes for each strand of Safer London's work ('People', 'Peers' and 'Places'), and an additional three intermediary outcomes for each overarching outcome. Delphine Peace helped Safer London to consider how it might develop contextual outcomes by signposting them to relevant resources from the Contextual Safeguarding Network and sharing learning from other research sites. Safer London now uses Contextual Safeguarding 'Peer Assessment' and 'Neighbourhood Assessment' resources to develop its outcomes framework for its 'Peers' and 'Places' strand of work. The outcomes framework for 'Places' is now finalised and has been shared internally. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Training delivered to Department for Education alternative education project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Training delivered on Contextual Safeguarding and it's relationship to inclusive education and safeguarding. Delivered for the Department of Education's schools project with multi-agency practitioners working in alternative education. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Transitional Safeguarding Development Review Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A day workshop was held with representatives of the local authority and voluntary sector services engaged in the transitional safeguarding innovation project, part of the Family and Children's Transformation Partnership in Wiltshire. The event reviewed the progress of the innovation project and has provided momentum for the project's next developmental phase. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Transitional Safeguarding Journey Mapping Sessions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Transitional Safeguarding Journey Mapping sessions involve research team members facilitating conversations with professionals engaged in innovation work in the field of transitional safeguarding. The exercise invites the professionals to review their experiences of their innovation journey, in order to better understand the obstacles and opportunities they have encountered along the way. Participants have commented on finding it a valuable exercise for reflecting on and reviewing their progress in order to inform their future action plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Transitional Safeguarding Journey Mapping Sessions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Transitional Safeguarding Journey Mapping sessions involve research team members facilitating conversations with professionals engaged in innovation work in the field of transitional safeguarding. The exercise invites the professionals to review their experiences of their innovation journey, in order to better understand the obstacles and opportunities they have encountered along the way. Participants have commented on finding it a valuable exercise for reflecting on and reviewing their progress in order to inform their future action plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Transitional Safeguarding Reflective Discussion Groups |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The transitional safeguarding reflective discussion groups were created to offer professionals engaged in innovation work in the field of transitional safeguarding to have an opportunity to reflect on their experiences of the work with colleagues in other work settings. participants have expressed their gratitude for the space to share what it feels like to undertake this work and the forum appears to be a restorative space that contributes to the professional resilience of the participants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| Description | Transitional Safeguarding Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was designed to provide professionals with an overview of Transitional Safeguarding, an emergent area of practice and service delivery. Twenty professionals from a range of statutory and voluntary sector health and social care settings attended. The research being conducted into Transitional Safeguarding innovation was presented and the ensuing engaging discussion highlighted the current limited knowledge about TS and the urgent need for this type of knowledge exchange activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Webinar on Contextual Safeguarding for a child protection charity in Australia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Webinar and associated podcast targeting parents to raise awareness of contextual approaches to child protection |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Workshop discussion at Joint Universities Social Work Conference June 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A workshop convened with and delivered by academics and senior social work leaders that explored the experiences of Black women in senior social work leadership roles and their experiences of innovating in the field of Transitional Safeguarding and exercising moral courage. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Workshop for funders and commissioners |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was organised by one of our third sector research sites and brought together key funders and commissioners in London for a discussion on developing and measuring interventions aimed at addressing extra-familial risks and harms (EFRH). This workshop took place on 14 July 2021 and one of our research fellows presented at it on how one of the three approaches we are researching ('Contextual Safeguarding) might offer a useful approach. 15 attendees were present. Some verbal feedback was given. While some of the attendees had heard the term 'Contextual Safeguarding', they were not very familiar with the approach and said that they had found the presentation useful. One person said that it made them reflect on the danger of the term 'Contextual Safeguarding' being used as a synonym for 'extra-familial harm' without much consideration given to the policy and practice implications of the approach. In the discussion that followed the presentation, one attendee said they welcomed our suggestion to use the Contextual Safeguarding framework as a way of framing what funders/commissioners can ask services to report on (i.e. do responses target contexts, is the approach welfare based, how are parents/young people and the community engaged, what outcomes/impact would you expect to have in the context of harm). This indicated that attendees had found the workshop had extended their knowledge of approaches to addressing extra-familial risk and this would then affect their future commissioning/funding of this approach. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Workshop on peer group assessment by Co-I Firmin delivered to 49 social workers nationally |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A workshop on peer group assessment was provided (online) for 49 social workers in November 2020 by Dr Carlene Firmin, the Co-I on the Innovate Project. The topic was related to that which Dr Firmin is working on in the Innovate Project (the Contextual Safeguarding model). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Workshop with local authority managers and practitioners |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Kristine Hickle, part of the project team, took part in an expert panel discussing 'Contexual Safeguarding Values. (Contextual Safeguarding is one of the approaches being researched by this project). The panel took place in Birmingham in February 2022 as part of the national Contextual Safeguarding Scale Up conference, and there were approximately 150 practitioners and managers from local authorities and third sector organisations in the audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Workshop with professionals at Innovate project conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This workshop shared the views of young people that we have engaged as part of a youth panel about how young people are discussed in multi-agency safeguarding panels and supported participants to reflect on these and to consider how they could adapt their practice and design panel processes that are more inclusive of young people's experiences, feelings and want. At the end of the workshop professionals decided on one thing that they will do differently going forward and we took these promises back to the young people that we have engaged. Excellent feedback was received. The resources we used in the workshop (videos co created with young people) are being turned into a resource package for professionals to facilitate workshops with young people and with professionals about these topics that will be published as part of the Innovate project resources. We have already received interest for these resources from a national charity currently in the process of redesigning their young people safeguarding programme for use as part of their staff learning and development, and for use as part of teaching social work postgraduate students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |