‘It takes a lot to build trust’ Recognition and Telling: Developing earlier routes to help for children and young people

A report for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England

The research was prompted by a concern to improve access to protection and support for children and young people at risk of harm. The Munro Review of Child Protection (2011), commissioned by the government, argued that a child’s journey from experiencing problems to getting effective help should be at the heart of the child protection system. It stressed the importance of an offer of early help for children and their families.
The arguments for the value of early help stem from two lines of evidence. Firstly, there is longstanding and widespread international agreement that readily available early help for children and families can stop problems escalating and prevent maltreatment before it occurs. Secondly and compellingly, we know that harm from maltreatment is common but often hidden from view and that most children in need and their families cannot easily access services. These two arguments point to the importance of early help because it can reach out both to children whose maltreatment has not been brought to the attention of services, and to those whose situation does not meet the threshold for statutory intervention.
There are some tensions in contemporary policy and practice in England with regard to offering early help and working collaboratively with children, especially when they might already be experiencing abuse and neglect. Claims for maximum effectiveness for early intervention can emphasise providing services at the earliest stages of life rather than for older children but there are powerful arguments for meeting the needs of older children at an earlier stage. Austerity measures and cuts to local authority and health budgets bring these areas of debate into sharp focus. The on-going challenges of retrenchment and reconfiguration of services to make the best use of resources make this study very timely.
The research was based on the premise that children’s and young people’s perspectives on the recognition of abuse, neglect and family problems, and their perspectives on telling, would assist in the identification of improved services to protect them. The research aims were as follows:

  • To examine young people’s perceptions of abuse and neglect, and to explore their experiences of telling and getting help from both informal and formal sources.
  • To use this knowledge to make suggestions for practice that would improve access to support.