Review: Challenging Child Protection - New Directions in Safeguarding Children
Jane Held
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Edited by Lorraine Waterhouse and Janice McGhee
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ISBN 978-1-84905-395-2
£24.99
184 pages
It would be fair to say I jumped at the chance to review this book - anything that challenges the current world of child protection was, I thought, worth reading. Sadly, I was disappointed. The book does not so much roar a challenge as gently purr in a rather refined way.
The premise for the book is a good one and the three challenges set, while not really challenges so much as activities, provide a potential framework for robust analysis of the constructs that are applied in the UK. However, the content is a bit of a curate's egg. What is missing is an explicit recognition of the realities of child protection for practitioners, managers and leaders in the UK against which the chapters dealing with each challenge could be framed.
A short analysis of the political, economic and social context within which we practice in the UK would have greatly enhanced the overall relevance of the various perspectives presented. It is ironic that this is recognised in the introduction but not expanded on as it would have made a significant difference. The exception to this is the chapter on armed conflict and political violence, which provides a helpful framework for understanding the issues that contribute to a "protective environment framework". The eight areas identified have real relevance not just in countries affected by armed conflict or political violence, but for policymakers and strategic leaders in the UK.
Some chapters of the book, while interesting, are not particularly applicable to the realities of practice. Some are. The chapter on the ethics of predictive risk modelling is a helpful analysis that will serve me well in debating the growing emphasis on risk analysis in responding to child protection concerns. And the chapters dealing with the importance of both public health analyses and understanding the systemic impacts of neglect arising from the conditions families live in are both lively and interesting, and will assist in my daily life as a safeguarding board chair.
The chapter on the treatment of childhood gives a useful summary of the key issues that impact on how we see, recognise, accept and respond to child protection. The chapter on the dynamics of culture added to this, rightly concluding that children's own views and perceptions of harm are essential in relation to any debate or discussion of harm.
Another deals in more depth with the importance of the contribution that can be made to an understanding of child protection by the application of a children's rights framework.
Much of what the book contains has considerable merit in terms of academic interest, and some of it provides sound practice advice. If you are a student, it has much to recommend it. Unfortunately, as a practitioner, although it is worth dipping into, it is not – however interesting - a book that provides a strong challenge to what we do and why as social workers.
- Reviewed by Jane Held, independent chair of Milton Keynes Local Safeguarding Children Board