It’s important to think about the potential implications for child protection and safeguarding when working with children struggling with their mental health.
Published case reviews highlight the detrimental impact adverse experiences, such as abuse or neglect, can have on a child’s mental health. They also demonstrate how mental health problems can lead to safeguarding concerns. For example, in some case reviews a child’s mental health problems led to self-harm or situations which put themselves or others at risk of harm.
This NSPCC briefing is based on learning from a sample of case reviews published between 2021 and 2022 involving children with a wide range of different mental health problems. These ranged from diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health conditions, to wider concerns related to mental and emotional wellbeing.
Read the briefing here
The briefing also connects the dots between hearing the voice of the child and experiencing their lived experience and why this is essential. Here is Staffordshire recent Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews almost always highlight the need for listening to the voice of the child at all times, especially those that are non-verbal or pre-verbal.
Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board offer free voice of the child eLearning ‘With or Without Words’ available to everyone working with children and families across the county. To book your place visit the Learning Zone.
