Safeguarding children and young people from exploitation

Lead author Carlene Firmin (University of Bedfordshire) and Research in Practice Director Dez Holmes discuss the Safeguarding and exploitation – complex, contextual and holistic approaches: Strategic Briefing. They reflect on the holistic approach needed to protect children and young people who are, or who are at risk of, being exploited. The current system is arguably not designed to meet the needs and risks that young people face outside the family home. They explain the rationale behind complex, contextual, transitional and holistic safeguarding approaches and how they overlap and complement each other. Looking at a case example, they outline how the child protection system needs to adapt strategically and operationally in order to respond to the harm that this young person faced. They also discuss the importance of working with parents as partners and the need to work with communities to enable an effective safeguarding response for young people facing harm outside of the home.