Ask the Expert: Teenage safeguarding

I am working with a young woman aged 15 who has an older boyfriend that her parents disapprove of. She has told me that she thinks she might be pregnant, but tends to close down when I ask questions about her boyfriend. What should I do?

Listen to her and offer some advice on sexual health. You could talk to her about how she and her boyfriend feel about it.

But the issue of safeguarding is paramount here and you need to find out how much older than her the man is. Try to find out how he treats her – is he dominating her, pressurising her or isolating her from her family? If so then steps need to be taken to protect her, including sharing information with other safeguarding professionals.

If she is pregnant then health and other professionals will also ask these questions, not least because she is under the legal age of consent. In this situation, continued support for her is paramount, regardless of whether she is pregnant or not.

Developing some focused work on self-esteem and relationships may help her to look at her situation in a different light.

Answered by Jeanie Lynch, who works for Barnardo’s and has 25 years’ experience of working with vulnerable children and families