Transitional Safeguarding: Transforming How Adolescents and Young Adults Are Safeguarded

Abstract

This article argues for a transformation in the protection and safeguarding needs of young people during their transition between childhood and adulthood. In order to explore with local authorities how they would address some of these challenges, the authors facilitated four national workshops with principal social workers, senior and middle managers (n = 88) from approximately one-third of Local Authorities in England (n = 52) from both Children and Adult social services. Participants discussed enablers and barriers to local and regional approaches to transitional safeguarding at practice, managerial, strategic and multi-agency levels. Findings from the workshops showed many examples of commitment to improvement and change, despite funding constraints and system barriers. No single local authority had a coherent and comprehensive approach to Transitional Safeguarding. Although some partnerships had started to lead innovation, it was still too early to demonstrate any effective impact throughout all systems, including whether outcomes for young people had improved. Participants also emphasised that young people should be involved as key stakeholders in developing appropriate responses. The system changes required to improve Transitional Safeguarding practices are complex and involve a re-configuration of the ‘risk’ versus ‘rights’ paradigms that permeate societal responses to the protection of young people.

Learning from safeguarding adult reviews about Transitional Safeguarding: building an evidence base

“…Transitional Safeguarding provides a language to describe a complex area of practice concerned with the specific safeguarding needs of young people, which is contextual/ecological, developmental and relational (Holmes, 2022) The current “cliff edge” between children’s and adults social services in England at 18 years of age means that young people are not always supported effectively. This results in unmet needs and often costlier later intervention, as those young people, where support ends at eighteen, are too often located within criminal justice, homeless, substance misusing and/or mental health populations (Cocker et al , 2021b). This appears to be one of the reasons why SARs are written about them, as unfortunately some young people die or take their own lives because of safeguarding risks not being understood and addressed at this time in their lives.…”

“…Transitional Safeguarding covers more than the safeguarding risks for young people known to social services who need care and support provided when they are young adults. There are other groups of young people at risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation whose needs have not been traditionally addressed by adult safeguarding services (Cocker et al , 2021b) and it is these systems issues relating to the transition points – or gaps – that need addressing, including between the safeguarding system/s, the justice system/s and health system/s including mental health (Holmes, 2022). As such, it is a term intended to denote “boundary spanning”: working collaboratively and creatively across institutional borders to tackle complex issues.…”

Transitional Safeguarding: presenting the case for developing Making Safeguarding Personal for young people in England

“…The outstanding challenge in delivering a Transitional Safeguarding and MSP approach is to ensure that whatever approach or model of service is used, it is able to address the developmental needs of young adults (Cocker et al , 2021a; 2021b). This developmental stage, known as “Emerging Adulthood” (Arnett, 2000), is a stage in-between adolescence and young adulthood where young people are no longer children but do not yet have the responsibilities or experience of social or cultural rituals regarding relationships, work and financial responsibilities that determine much of adult life (Arnett, 2000; Cocker et al ., 2021a; 2021b). A nuanced and flexible response from services, because of the particular needs and developmental stages of these young people, is required.…”

Risk, Vulnerability and Complexity: Transitional Safeguarding as a Reframing of Binary Perspectives

“…The social and political context for Transitional Safeguarding is associated with an increased recognition in policy and practice, underpinned by research from different disciplines, that adolescence as a life phase bridging childhood and adulthood has become more extensive in recent decades (Sawyer et al 2018;Holmes and Smale 2018;Cocker, Cooper, and Holmes 2021). A range of social, developmental and neurobiological factors are at play in prompting, on the one hand, earlier exposures to experiences associated with adolescence (e.g.…”

“…This life course perspective is also important because young people experiencing risks and harm may become parents and processes of intervention by children's services may become cyclical across generations. The Transitional Safeguarding literature thus far sets out both moral and economic arguments for considering the particular position (and potential vulnerability) of young people and for adapting systems, policies and practices to bridge and unsettle some of the artificially constructed binaries between services and provisions for children and adults (Cocker, Cooper, and Holmes 2021;Holmes and Smale 2018). At this stage in its innovation trajectory, the question of whether Transitional Safeguarding will lead to or require future changes in governmental policy or statute appears still open.…”