Safeguarding is essentially about risk assessment. It is, of course, different to the risk assessments that we are used to conducting when we risk assess a facility or activity, but it is essentially risk assessment. What we are assessing, however, is the risk to the safety and wellbeing of the child. There are a number of factors that we need to take into account as we consider the risks:

Severity / consequence (What might happen?)

We need to have an understanding of what risk the child is facing. All abuse is unacceptable, and this is not about minimising the impact of some forms of abuse, however, we do need to understand that some risks are objectively more dangerous than others. Some risks will need to be monitored over time while others will require immediate action to ensure the child’s safety.

Urgency (When might it happen?)

Sometimes children face an imminent risk of significant harm; perhaps because their abuser is someone in close contact with the child. At other times, although the harm may be the same, the perpetrator is more remote and the child can be protected, so the need for action is not so critically urgent.

Clarity of understanding (Quality of information)

There are times when we are confident that we have a good understanding of a situation and other times when we are really not clear at all about what life is like for the child. While we cannot make this assessment with absolute confidence, and there is always the possibility of error, we do need to be mindful of the fact that where there is a lack of clarity, we need to be vigilant and seek to clarify where possible so that we understand what we are dealing with to the best of our ability. As professionals, we need to be vigilant and appropriately inquisitive.

History, patterns and trends

Sometimes, what concerns us is not what is happening, so much as the frequency with which it happens. For example, children have unforeseen accidents, however, if the child repeatedly has the same (or essentially similar) accident on multiple occasions, we need to look at why effective strategies to prevent recurrence have not been implemented.

We may also be interested if incidents are increasing in frequency, duration or seriousness. These patterns can inform our plans to prevent further harm.

It is, therefore, important that we do not examine each incident or concern in isolation, but rather that we seek to understand the history, patterns and trends that may emerge when we consider a broader timeframe. Chronologies and summaries can be very helpful in spotting these trends and patterns..

Additional vulnerabilities and protective factors

We looked previously at factors that can make a child more vulnerable to abuse than their peers or children of other ages and developmental stages. It is important that we factor these additional vulnerabilities into our assessments of the risks.

Complexity and risk factors

We also looked previously at situations that place the child at increased risk. These factors too must be taken into account in our assessments. Increased complexity (i.e. combinations of multiple vulnerabilities and/or risk factors) increases the potential for harm exponentially.

Who else is involved?

Although having multiple professionals involved with a family adds complexity which can be challenging if multiple professionals from different services are working with the family, and particularly if those different professionals see the child in different contexts (e.g. school, home, community activities etc) and if there is good communication and appropriate information sharing, the different perspectives and relationships may result in a clearer and more balanced assessment.

Is the child / young person’s voice being heard?

It is also vital that the child’s voice is heard as we consider what their life is like and how we can most effectively support and protect them.