Protection for older children
Kara Apland
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Older children are suffering a lack of support, according to a report by the education select committee. Kara Apland, socio-legal researcher at Coram Children's Legal Centre, looks at the committee's concerns
According to Ofsted, the second most vulnerable group of children – after babies under the age of one –are those aged 14 and above.
However, the education select committee’s recent report, Children First: The Child Protection System in England, revealed “a worrying picture with regard to the protection and support of older children”, despite local authorities’ statutory duty under the Children Act (2004) to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children under the age of 18.
Adolescent protection problems pose a challenge to the child protection system because they are difficult to recognise. The committee reports that many abused or neglected adolescents, particularly those who have experienced long-term abuse and neglect, accept their circumstances as “normal”.
Research cited by the study also demonstrates that often, older children are unaware that their rights are being violated. Another barrier occurs at the level of reporting; those adolescents who do recognise their problems are reluctant to report them to social care because of mistrust of authorities, fear of consequences or loss of control, embarrassment or shame, concern they will be separated from family members, or fear that they will not be believed.
Even more concerning is that where children did report, the response was often wholly inadequate. Several children interviewed as part of the study recalled not being believed or being turned away when they reported a child protection concern. These findings are further complicated by perceptions that older children are less vulnerable than their younger counterparts or that the impact of abuse on adolescents is less severe, and may make practitioners more likely to overlook protection concerns for older children.
Signs and symptoms of adolescent abuse tend to be more varied and complex than the signs exhibited by younger children, and are not always recognised by adults or practitioners. This is a particular problem for adolescents exhibiting bad behaviour, which is often a sign of abuse or neglect in older children.
In the words of Andy McCullough, head of UK policy and public affairs at the charity Railway Children: “By the time you get to 14 or 15 … you have lost trust in the adults around you, because you have been let down on a number of occasions. Your behaviour, and how you act out that trauma, becomes the focus, rather than what has caused that trauma.” When bad behaviour is treated as the problem in itself, rather than a sign of a more serious issue, victims may be treated as troublemakers or perpetrators by people and institutions that should be focused on their protection.
Addressing concerns effectively
The select committee’s report also demonstrates that where protection concerns for older children are successfully identified, they are not always effectively addressed. The report makes the welcome recommendation that social workers and other practitioners receive more robust training in child protection concerns for older children and the impact protection concerns have on their lives.
It is equally important that safeguarding systems be made more accessible and less intimidating to adolescents; the NSPCC attributed an increase of adolescents reporting to its ChildLine to the introduction of an online reporting option that older children prefer. Finally, practitioners working with children must ensure that behavioural problems or involvement in criminal activity are treated first as a protection concern, and second as potential grounds for punishment.
Strengthening protection of older children means strengthening protection for children with the longest experiences of neglect and abuse. This is not only a question of justice for these children but is a defining moment for their future as adults and members of society.