It is important to recognise that each child in the family has their own particular needs and should be respected as an individual in their own right. This means that practitioners should engage with each child in the family separately.
Effective practice requires:
- identifying which practitioner has an established, positive relationship with the child and drawing on this to engage with the child and make them feel comfortable about discussing their life;
- recognising the impact of the parent’s behaviour and adult-orientated issues on the young person;
- ensuring the child understand the plan and believes it is designed to improve the quality of their life;
- balancing their suggestions about their needs and services with safeguarding them from harm;
- allowing them to choose the means of communication. For example, talking, text, drawing etc;
- talking to the child using open ended rather than leading questions;
- actively listening;
- using close observation;
- recognising behaviours as a means of communication;
- seeing children away from their carers;
- finding a place where the child feels comfortable, safe and secure and meets their needs;
- ensuring they have access to an advocate if they so desire;
- listening to adults who try to speak on behalf of the child for example, grandparents, neighbours;
- knowing if the child prefers eye to eye contact or talking whilst walking or in a car;
- being honest with the child and providing them with accurate information about what is happening and what may happen;
- recognising the specific needs of children acting as carers.
The engaging practitioner
Actively engaging with children on the child protection register can be challenging for practitioners, as Ferguson (2017, p1020) notes, in a study of social work practice:
‘Where social workers did not engage with children or challenge parents, this was not because of a ‘rule of optimism’ and seeking to put the best interpretation on events. It was rooted in a mixture of fear and other intense emotions and sensory experiences and organisational constraints’.
In order to engage in a child-centred way with children and young people practitioners should consider their own potential blocks to engagement. The following questions are designed to encourage this reflection:
- What are my beliefs regarding the rights of a child to have their views considered as part of the decision-making process? For example, do I have views about the age at which it is appropriate?
- Do I anticipate any ‘difficulty’ engaging with the child or young person? Do they have complex needs? Do I have the skills to communicate effectively?
- Do I have fears and anxieties about engaging with this child? How are they influencing my approach?
- Am I in danger of projecting my concerns about my ability to communicate onto the child, for example, consider them uncommunicative?
- Am I presenting and recording the child’s views etc accurately even if I do not believe what they are saying or am I interpreting what they are saying and I am observing?
- To what extent are workload pressures influencing my approach towards this child?
Further information:
Bruce M (2014) The Voice of the Child in Child Protection: Whose Voice? (Accessed 20/7/2019)
Ferguson H, (2017) How Children Become Invisible in Child Protection Work: Findings from Research into Day-to-Day Social Work Practice H British Journal of Social Work 47, 1007–1023
Kennan, D., Brady, B., & Forkan, C. (2018). Supporting children’s participation in decision-making: A systemic literature review exploring the effectiveness of participatory processes. British Journal of Social Work, 0, 1–18
Ofsted (2011) The voice of the child: learning lessons from serious case reviews, (Accessed 20/7/2019)