New research to explore child safeguarding inequalities
Why are children from poor neighbourhoods more likely to be subject to a child protection intervention than those living in better off areas? And is deprivation the primary cause?
That is what a comprehensive new research programme involving seven UK universities aims to find out.
The two year project will be led by Professor Paul Bywaters and Dr. Geraldine Brady of the new research Centre for Communities and Social Justice at Coventry University. However, the project will involve teams in six partner universities, the Open University, the University of Nottingham, University of Stirling, University of Edinburgh, Queen’s University Belfast, and Cardiff University.
Funded by a research grant of over £550,000 from the Nuffield Foundation, the project will compare disparities in child safeguarding in England with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales where child welfare systems and intervention rates differ.
It will then explore potential reasons for the inequalities in rates across the UK. Since 2008 there has been an 86% increase in the number of children being investigated over child protection concerns in England. And the number of children spending time in care each year has increased by 10,000 since 2010.
The increase in pressure on child protection services has coincided with the coalition government’s austerity measures which have been implemented since 2010 and are set to continue. In this context of increasing demand and spending cuts affecting family support services, it is particularly important to understand what is driving child welfare inequalities within the UK, and the research aims to shed light on this.
Professor of Social Work, Prof Paul Bywaters said: “Almost 5 children in a 1,000 in Wales and Northern Ireland are on a child protection plan or register, but fewer than 4 in 1,000 children in England and fewer than 3 in Scotland. Is this a postcode lottery or the result of deprivation, demography, policy or practice? How do we judge which country’s safeguarding system is working best? This is what this project is aiming to find out. Our findings could lead to fundamental changes in policy and practice for children’s services across UK and internationally.”
The project will begin in April this year and expects to report in 2017. More information is available at www.nuffieldfoundation.org
