How and why children become invisible in child protection work:

Insights from ethnographic research into social work practice

Professor Harry FergusonUniversity of Nottingham

@harr_fergusonBASPCAN, 14th April 2015

‘Invisible children’

• ‘At times, Daniel appeared to have been “invisible” as a needy child …’

• “But if professionals had used more enquiring minds, and been more focused in their intentions to address concerns, it’s likely that Daniel would have been better protected from the people who killed him.”

(Daniel Pelka Serious Case Review,

2013)

Day to Day Practice

• What happens in day to day social work?• What goes on in SWs’ minds, bodies, lived

experience?• Do children become invisible?• What does child-centred practice look like?• Beyond individualised explanations • Psycho-dynamic and systemic theory.

Researching Child Protection Practice

• Research needed to get as close as possible to practice

• Shadowed practitioners on home visits, in the car, in schools

• Observed & recorded their encounters with service users

• Only when consent given by all parties.

• In most of the 87 cases observed the workers gave at least some attention to the children.

• In a minority the practice lost sight of the children.

Degrees of (in)visibility

• Some workers knew when they hadn’t done what they felt they should

• Some acknowledged that it was difficult, messy & that their practice was not rigorous & was unfinished

• Some did not know what they did not do – full invisibility.

Practice CyclePreparation

Journey

Interaction

PracticePatterns

De-Brief

organisation

Self

The process of invisibility

• Organisational: Limited time / targets – Systemic pressures towards superficial practice

• Lived experience: Emotional defences – against parental anger, atmospheres of menace, distraction of ‘friends’, dogs, children’s suffering.

• Workers flooded / overcome by anxiety

• Sensory overload• Limited organisational help to make

sense of experience• Without talk, reflection on feelings,

children stay out of mind, ‘unthought’ about

• The child remains invisible …

Making children visible

• A child who is “seen” with the eyes – from a distance - can still be invisible

• “Visibility” = meaningful engagement, ‘intimate practice’ (Ferguson, 2011).

Enablers of good practice

• Organisational – do need enough time to develop relationships

• Knowledge – enough theory, skill• Personal – worker’s own style• Personal – bearing of suffering• Organisational – quality support,

emotional containment, CPD.

Ferguson, H. (2014), What social workers do in performing child protection work: evidence from research into face-to-face practice, Child and Family Social Work, published on Early View, doi:10.1111/cfs.12142.

Twitter: @harr_ferguson