The issue of adolescent neglect has received little policy attention in England and Wales, with a corresponding lack of centrality in practice. The DCSF and the Department of Health (DH) were aware of the gaps in the evidence base and commissioned a team of researchers, including Hicks, to address this, as part of the `Safeguarding Children Research Initiative' (SCRI), the purpose of which was to produce `a stronger evidence base for the development of policy and practice to improve the protection of children in England'. This was part of the government's response following the Inquiry after the death of Victoria Climbié and later, Peter Connelly. The conduit between researchers and national policy makers was integral to the projects supported; a DCSF/DH programme of seminars and workshops enabled an ongoing working dialogue.
In the UK, neglect is the most common initial reason for being the subject of a child protection plan, accounting for 41.9 per cent in the year ending 31 March 2012 (DfE, Children Looked After in England (including adoption and care leavers), Statistical First Release, 20/2012). Adolescent experience includes self-harm, mental illness, difficulties with eating, and in extreme cases, life is placed at risk. A quarter of all Serious Case Reviews focus on teenagers as victims, and 10 per cent of these young people are aged 16 or over (Rees et al., 2011). However, neglect remains an issue that receives relatively little attention from practitioners, researchers and policy makers.
young people training as co-facilitators of the focus groups with adolescents.
The review provided evidence from research additional to specialist child protection sources, such as from studies of parenting, of disadvantaged and socially excluded young people and from clinical research in several disciplines. The framework from the review was taken forward into the qualitative research with young people and multi-agency professionals.
there is limited knowledge about interventions with neglected adolescents.
`Neglected Adolescents: review of research and preparation of guides for multi-disciplinary teams and for young people', Professor Mike Stein, PI. Department for Education and Skills/Department of Health: £146,816.
Davies, C. and Ward, H. (2012) Safeguarding Children Across Services: Messages from Research, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Hicks, L. and Stein, M. (available online from 13 May 2013) `Understanding and working with adolescent neglect: perspectives from research, young people and professionals', Child and Family Social Work, DOI: 10.1111/cfs.12072.
Rees, G., Stein, M., Hicks, L. and Gorin, S. (2011) Adolescent Neglect: Research, policy and practice, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Stein, M., Rhys, G., Hicks, L. and Gorin, S. (2009) Neglected adolescents: Literature review, Research Brief, DCSF-RBX-09-04, London: Department for Children Schools and Families.
1) Production of guides: a) for multi-agency practitioners and policy makers (Hicks and Stein, 2010); and b) for young people (NSPCC, 2010). Both were developed collaboratively by researchers and participants from the qualitative stages of the research, with practitioners and young people assisting in the structure, form and content of the guides. As is usual with outputs from government funded research, both guides were peer reviewed by academics, practitioners and civil servants in the DCSF Project Advisory Group.
The guide for young people won the Plain English Campaign 2010 `Plain English' annual award. The research findings and guides have been disseminated widely, with presentations by Stein (http://php.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/profiles/msC.php) and by Hicks, to policy, practice and academic audiences.
Recent examples include the invited keynote presentations and two workshops given by Hicks, commissioned by East Dunbarton Child Protection Committee, at the `GETTING IT RIGHT for Children and Young People [GIRFEC] in East Dunbartonshire' multi-agency training event held for practitioners in Glasgow, November 2012. GIRFEC is a new national initiative that promotes multi-agency working and accountability, and underpins all Scottish Government policies for children and young people.
2) National policy influence: the multi-agency guide, Neglect Matters, was published by DCSF (4,000 copies) and distributed to all local authorities, with downloadable links provided on the Every Child Matters website. The publication was launched at a Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People's Services (C4EO) event, alongside the launch of the 2010 edition of the extensive government guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children: a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, in which the adolescent neglect project was cited.
In June 2010, the Secretary of State for Education commissioned a review of child protection, which heralds a radical shift from previous reforms (The Munro Review of Child Protection: Final Report — A child-centred system, Department for Education (2011)). Proposals enable professionals to make the best judgements about the help to give children, young people and families. Neglect Matters: A multi-agency guide for professionals working together on behalf of teenagers is referenced in the Munro review as evidence to support the importance of young people's participation and inclusion in child protection work.
devising plans to enable change, implementing, monitoring and reviewing progress.
To create changes in practice and policy managers were enabled to develop short guides to adolescent neglect for staff working in different agencies, e.g. substance abuse and counselling. Safeguarding Screening Tools approved by the LSCB were revised to include adolescent neglect and are currently in use throughout the LA. Follow-up interviews with individual managers established the nature of changes in practice and policies, examples of which include: cultural shifts ensuing from the recognition of `adolescent neglect' as a term for use; the inclusion of neglect in assessments of older children and their families; and monitoring data on adolescent neglect being collected by the LA performance team.
Hicks, L. and Stein, M. (2010) Neglect Matters: A multi-agency guide for professionals working together on behalf of teenagers, London: DCSF.
NSPCC (2010) Neglect Matters, a guide for young people about neglect, London: NSPCC, www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/publications/neglect_matters_wda70741.html.
Research in Practice, the national organisation geared towards enabling evidence-informed practice in children's services, makes extensive use of the `neglected adolescents' study in their Evidence scope: models of adolescent care provision (2013) (see pages 9, 10 and 19). This was commissioned by the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) and published alongside the ADCS April 2013 Position Statement. Both documents can be found at: www.adcs.org.uk/news/whatiscarefor.html.
With Scotland (2012) The Neglect and Abuse of Young People: A resource for secondary school, work (see pages 3, 5, 6 and 7): withscotland.org/download/child-abuse-and-neglect-a-resource-for-secondary-schools.
Action for Children, a major campaigning national charity, made use of Neglect Matters in its national `Neglecting the Issue' campaign in 2011, details of which can be found in the report provided at: www.actionforchildren.org.uk/campaigns/child-neglect-in-2011/child-neglect-campaign/neglecting-the-issue. See, in particular, the section on page 12 about adolescence and adulthood.
Action for Children (2012) Action on Neglect: a leading resource pack, cites Neglect Matters, available at: www.actionforchildren.org.uk/our-services/for-professionals/resources. See pages 71 and 77.
Tameside SCB, Neglect Practice Guidance (2011) (see in particular pp. 14, 15, 17): www.tamesidesafeguardingchildren.org.uk/attachments/077_TSCB%20%20Neglect%20Practice% 20Guidance.pdf.
Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board (SCB) provides the Neglect Matters guide for young people at: www.bucks-lscb.org.uk/neglect.
Isle of Wight SCB, advice for young people includes Neglect Matters: 4lscb.org.uk/isleofwight/children_and_young_people/areyouworried.aspx.
Leicester SCB includes Neglect Matters in their guidance for practitioners: www.lcitylscb.org/information-for-practitioners/safeguarding-topics/neglect-ad/.