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ABSTRACT Drawing upon multiple case studies, this article examines how parenting double standards are reproduced in situations where women who have experienced domestic violence have been seen as ‘alienating’ mothers, while the men who have perpetrated the violence have been seem as ‘good’ or ‘good enough’ fathers. In total, 25 cases studies were conducted with women who had experienced domestic violence, had at least one child and had been perceived by at least one professional as ‘engaging in parental alienation’ at some point within the previous 5 years. Each case study involved at least one semi‐structured interview with the woman and the analysis of relevant documents, including family evaluation reports, child protection reports and court decisions. These double standards were identified when the mothers' and the fathers' behaviours and circumstances had been measured or evaluated using a different set of principles. The research findings reveal different main manifestations of parenting double standards, which relate to the parents' credibility and the parents' past and personal histories. Moreover, the fact that the parents talk to the children about the other parent is perceived differently when mothers and fathers are doing it. Professionals also reproduce double standards when they minimize and the justify the parents' ‘inappropriate’ behaviours and when they consider the parents' help‐seeking strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT For over 15 years the Japanese government has promoted a national campaign on child abuse awareness and tasked authorities with addressing rising child abuse reports. With an orange ribbon as its symbol, a key aspect of this campaign, alongside casework, is the creation and circulation of visual‐discursive representations of abused children. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork on child protection practice, this paper contextualises the social construction of child abuse by critiquing the cultural and technical logics of abuse and protection discourse. Appeals to vulnerability, rights and duty bridge public and expert fields and position an image of pity as a call to action that drives child abuse prevalence as well as enduring dispositions by the state towards intrafamily normativity and a minimalist welfare state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trauma is a central theme in child protection. Responding to and preventing traumatic harm to children is a key function of statutory child protection agencies and systems in Australia. Parents who encounter these systems are also known to be a highly traumatised cohort, often experiencing trauma throughout their own early development and into their adult lives. Despite these being broadly accepted principles amongst practitioners, there are limited pathways for parents to undertake trauma‐processing therapy as an integrated part of current child protection practice. Narrative exposure therapy (NET) is a manualised therapy model that has been used successfully to support individuals with life‐threatening trauma to process these experiences and take agency over their lives. The successful use of this model by non‐traditional therapists such as community health workers, in brief timeframes, has made it a valuable approach in settings with a high need for therapeutic support and low resources, such as refugee accommodation. Although these themes also have synergy with the child protection setting, there is relatively little research on the use of NET in this setting. This paper is written by practitioners and for practitioners and examines the real‐world application of NET with parents involved with a non‐statutory reunification service in the South Australian child protection system, grounded in a trauma‐informed model of practice. As such, the paper considers extending the possible value of NET into an area of limited previous use. The paper highlights observational findings suggesting that NET has the potential to be an effective tool for bringing focus to the trauma experiences of the parent, so that they may process these and develop greater capacity to parent safely as well as engage more productively with the demands of the child protection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Design, setting and participants Measurements Findings Conclusions To measure the association of harmful alcohol use by parents and primary caregivers with the level of child protection response.This study was a multivariable logistic regression analysis using data drawn from the Victorian child protection database (2012–21) in Victoria, Australia. Focusing upon the most recent case per child, we analysed whether harmful parental alcohol use was probably associated with children‘s progression throughout the child protection system (from investigation phase, to substantiation, through to protective intervention, protection application and protection orders), while adjusting for socio‐demographic variables. The participants comprised 352 800 children [48.5% female, 50.0% male, 1.6% other/unknown; mean age = 8.1 (0–18 years)] with one or more reports (mean = 1.4) in the child protection system.Child protection workers reported on two risk factor variables indicating parental alcohol use during an intake risk assessment: ‘alcohol abuse‘ and ‘alcohol use compromises child‘s safety‘.Of the 95 592 child cases investigated between 2012 and 2021, 50 476 were substantiated. Probable parental alcohol use was reported as a risk factor in 5.1% of children investigated and substantiated in 9.1% of children. The odds of progressing to investigation [odds ratio (OR) = 1.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.59, 1.69, P < 0.001], substantiation (OR = 2.02, 95% CI = 1.91, 2.13, P < 0.001), protective intervention (OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.23, 1.59, P < 0.001), protection application (OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.08, 1.25, P < 0.001) and protection order (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.02, 1.34, P = 0.028) were statistically significantly higher for children experiencing probable parental harmful alcohol use. However, the associations for protection application and protection order were not statistically significant after accounting for variables related to family accommodation, income and composition.In Victoria, Australia, in cases where child protection workers document parental alcohol use, those children are more likely to progress through the Victorian child protection system than children whose parents have no documented alcohol use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Like in most African countries, community leaders (including clan and family heads) in rural communities in Ghana undertake core child protection duties, including facilitating kinship placements, resolution of child maltreatment and trafficking issues, and spearheading community‐wide education programmes. The child protection activities carried out by community leaders are legitimized and sanctioned in the child welfare legislation of African countries, such as the Child and Family Welfare Policy in Ghana. As the role of the community leaders is being regularized and legitimized in most African countries, it has become necessary to understand how the child protection activities of these community leaders are supervised, regulated, and monitored by professional child protection workers. Through in‐depth narrative interviews with 12 community leaders in two rural communities in Ghana, this study explored community leaders' motivations for undertaking child protection practices, and how their child protection activities are supervised and monitored by professional child protection workers. The findings revealed child protection workers utilize training of trainers' programmes, and stakeholder policy engagements as supervision mechanisms to monitor the child protection duties of the community leaders. The study findings highlight key gaps in the monitoring and supervision duties performed by professional child protection workers, including (1) the lack of coordinated structure and framework for monitoring, and (2) the limited focus on outcome in monitoring. Implications for child protection practice have been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The infants of women with histories of problematic alcohol and other drug use are among the most vulnerable children known to statutory child protection services, which they enter at a younger age, and in which they remain longer. The net results include overwhelmed child protection systems and the birth of subsequent children conceived to ease women's grief at the loss their infants. Without adequate and appropriate support to the mother and her family, the pattern repeats. Obstetric services have an important role to play in the assessment of risk and protective factors in the perinatal period and in determining pathways to service provision. A comprehensive assessment considers the availability and quality of informal support prior to activation of formal systems of support, both statutory, where engagement is mandated, and non‐statutory, where support is offered on a voluntary basis. This paper uses quantitative methods to explore the social networks of women with problematic substance use in the transition to motherhood and the relationship between formal and informal support systems and infant outcomes. Surveys were held with two counsellors from the Women's Alcohol and Drug Service (WADS), a specialist obstetric clinic in Melbourne, Australia, and with 18 child protection workers. In addition, the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (Norbeck, 1984; Norbeck et al., 1983) was administered with 20 participating mothers to measure levels of formal and informal support, as well as the type and quality of support available to mothers over a 12‐month period, and to consider the provision of social support against known outcomes for infants. The findings demonstrate that WADS counsellors made several referrals for most women but that there was little in the way of long‐term follow‐up by non‐statutory service providers, with most women experiencing a dramatic drop in support over the 12‐month period. Women whose main informal support was from a domestically violent partner, and those who had been in out‐of‐home care in their own childhood, were particularly vulnerable to losing the care of their infant. The role of child protection varied markedly across the 12‐month period, particularly in relation to the extent that a relationship between formal and informal systems of support for mothers and their infants could be established. Overall, the study findings demonstrate that mothers experienced diminishing formal and informal support over time and that the quality of social support available to the mother was more important in terms of outcomes for women and their infants than the quantity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School teachers are a professional group that are responsible for a large proportion of reports concerning suspected child abuse and neglect. This study looks at which concerns are more often reported by schools and if these reports are more likely substantiated when the school is the reporter. The study was designed as a retrospective case‐file study (N = 883). Results show that concerns about the child being exposed to physical abuse were notably more frequent in reports from schools compared to other reporters and were more often substantiated when the reports came from schools as opposed to other reporting agencies. The odds for substantiation of abuse were 6.4 times higher if an abuse concern had been raised in the report compared to when it had not. This effect was not significantly mediated by the school being the reporter. School reports contain to a lesser extent concern about risk factors within the family and local environment. This is not necessarily a shortcoming on behalf of schools but may represent conditions that a teacher has less knowledge of and that constitute a 'blind spot' for employees in the education sector. The child welfare service must take this into account when assessing school reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study responded to a recommendation in the independent Duty of Care Report that called for standardised data to be collected and analysed regarding safeguarding cases in sport. A standardised case data tool was developed and piloted before being adopted by National Governing Bodies across England and Wales. An analysis of the first 4 years of data shows that a total of 3129 cases were managed. Overall, 54% of cases concerned behaviour outside of the context of sport. This demonstrates that sport plays an important role in the broader child protection system. In the remaining 46% of cases, the safeguarding concern was related to behaviour in the context of sport. The most commonly reported forms of concern in sport were physical abuse (20%), contact sexual abuse (20%), non‐contact sexual abuse (17%) and emotional abuse (17%). The threshold for cases to be included in the analysis was that the case was judged to be sufficiently serious to involve referral to, or consultation with, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), Children's Services or the Police. There are clearly many cases that did not meet this threshold or were never reported, and hence, these data provide an indication of the safeguarding issues related to sport. The need to expand the tool to collect lower level concerns as well as to include safeguarding concerns regarding adults is advocated. Key Practitioner Messages: A total of 3129 child safeguarding cases were managed across England and Wales between October 2018 and September 2022.Overall, 54% of cases concerned behaviour outside of sport with 46% of cases concerning behaviour in the context of sport.The most commonly reported forms of concern in sport were physical abuse (20%), contact sexual abuse (20%), non‐contact sexual abuse (17%) and emotional abuse (17%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In the context of a national shortage of specialist placements for children with complex needs in Ireland, this study examines the impact of healthcare professionals' management of paediatric social admissions (PSAs) in paediatric hospital settings, with particular attention to the child protection and welfare challenges encountered. Design and Participants: A qualitative research design was utilised, employing semistructured interviews with healthcare professionals as the primary data collection method. Findings: Thematic analysis of the interviews identified three principal themes: the spectrum of social admissions, influences and barriers, and the moral imperative of managing PSAs. The study found that social factors significantly influence the management and decision‐making processes in paediatric cases, often resulting in prolonged hospital stays. The findings highlight complex child protection issues, including severe shortages in specialist placements and the frequent discharge of children to environments other than their homes. Conclusions: The children involved in this study often remained in acute care settings for protracted periods, ranging from 6 months to several years. These extended stays deprived them of normal routines, education, and family life, underscoring substantial child protection concerns. This study calls for urgent systemic improvements to address these issues and ensure that the rights and well‐being of children involved with PSAs are upheld. Key Practitioner Messages: Social Factors Influence Care: Social determinants significantly impact the management and decision‐making in paediatric social admissions, often leading to prolonged hospital stays.Child Protection Concerns: Extended hospitalisation deprives children of normal routines, education, and family life, highlighting urgent child welfare issues that need addressing.Interdisciplinary Collaboration is Essential: Effective management of paediatric social admissions requires strong collaboration between healthcare providers, social workers, and child protection agencies to address complex social factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Scottish national child protection audit has shown that practitioners can have differing understanding of the term 'disability' and are variable in their own recording of disabilities. It was apparent from the audit that disability was more likely to be recorded for older children than those under five. The audit found that an abuse allegation is less likely to be substantiated for disabled children by a Child Protection Medical Examination. For disabled children in our sample, there was a 'substantiation of abuse rate' of 33%, which was less than the 56% rate for non‐disabled children. The differences in rates encourage us to consider what is an appropriate response when disabled children may have experienced harm and abuse. The audit highlights the vulnerability of disabled children to abuse and indicates the need to equip practitioners with the skills, competencies and confidence to engage with and support this vulnerable group. Key practitioner messages: A Scottish national child protection audit has shown that practitioners can have differing understanding of the term 'disability' and are variable in their own recording of disabilities, but recording disability is more consistent in older children than those under five.The audit found that disabled children were less likely than non‐disabled children in this sample to have been subject to abuse, following a medical examination by a paediatrician for a child protection investigation.The audit highlights the vulnerability of children with social communication disorders and other disabilities to abuse and indicates the need for services to consistently record disability and equip practitioners with the skills, competencies and confidence to support this vulnerable group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In the current study, we investigated whether denial and avoidance rates differed statistically significantly based on the interview protocol used. Method: We examined 38 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) interview transcripts, and 30 control transcripts from interviews from an earlier study (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2022, 36, 7) conducted with alleged child victims of abuse at Dutch child protection services. Results: We detected 57 denial and 282 avoidance statements across the 68 interviews. No statistically significant differences emerged between (1) the proportion of denials using NICHD (42%, n = 16/38) and control interviews (30%, n = 9/30), and (2) the average number of denial statements between NICHD (M = 0.84) and control interviews (M = 0.83). Furthermore, denials (and avoidances) were not more or less likely to occur in response to certain types of questions, even though the majority of denials in our sample occurred in response to option‐posing questions (60%, n = 34/57). Denials did occur statistically significantly less often within the first half of the individual interviews in NICHD than in control interviews. Conclusions: Our findings call attention to the difficulties child protection services face in investigative interviews with alleged child victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving timely "permanency" for children after statutory child removal has become a key policy driver internationally. In New South Wales, child protection reforms include prioritising reunification; introducing time frames for resolution of legal proceedings; and outsourcing a substantial proportion of casework to the non‐government sector. In assessing the viability of reunification, courts place responsibility for behaviour change on parents and obscure the role of systems in supporting these changes. Professionals, as actors within a complex system, have an insider perspective on factors that influence reunification. A qualitative study was undertaken to elicit the perspectives of professionals working with parents involved in care proceedings. A total of 29 caseworkers and lawyers took part in focus groups. Complexity theory was used as an interpretive framework, and thematic analysis was completed. Themes about barriers to reunification exposed the unintended consequences of change in a complex adaptive system. Far from making reunification more achievable by streamlining the legal process, changes introduced impediments in the form of role, goal and process confusion and low levels of professional confidence in their capacity to help parents and achieve predictable legal outcomes. These results strengthen calls for a different approach to confront system‐induced barriers. Embedding interagency collaboration, challenging risk narratives about parents and offering them dedicated services are areas that demand urgent attention in order to ensure no child, whose safety and best interests could be met by reunification, remains in care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aimed to determine what proportion of children presenting to a tertiary children's hospital with ingestion were referred for child protection assessment, and to describe the characteristics of the referred group. Methods: This is a retrospective case series study of children who presented to a tertiary children's hospital between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2020 with ingestion (poisoning). Demographic and clinical data were collected from the electronic medical record and patients who underwent child protection assessment were identified. The child protection group was compared to the whole cohort. The child protection group had psychosocial data gathered and descriptively analysed. Results: Two hundred and three patients were included. The most common substances ingested were over‐the‐counter medications (45%) followed by prescription medications (41%). Most patients were discharged from the emergency department (70%). Of the 203 patients, 24 (11.8%, 95% CI 7.72–17.08) were referred to the child protection unit. A significant proportion of these patients had a history of parental depression (64%) and other mental health conditions (41%), parent separation (77%) and domestic violence in the home (64%). Conclusion: The patients assessed by the child protection team had high prevalence of psychosocial risk factors that also place the patients at risk of child abuse and neglect. Most of the other patients did not have a psychosocial history documented in the medical record, and this group likely contains a high proportion of vulnerable children. By screening patients presenting with ingestion we may be able to identify children at risk and provide opportunities for protective intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a significant body of research that attests to the deleterious impact of an accumulation of adverse childhood experience across the lifespan, which provides a strong rationale for the development of a means for evaluating this accumulation in a high‐risk population. We developed a theory‐driven measure, the Cumulative Experiences Index, and conducted a pilot study to test its utility. The Cumulative Experiences Index derives a cumulative harm score that can be used to inform intervention and prevention strategies, programmes and initiatives across all tiers of public health prevention intervention. The Cumulative Experiences Index was piloted with 50 participants aged 8–17 years old who were actively engaged with an Intensive Family Support service. The study explores whether cases rated as low, medium or high severity on the Cumulative Experiences Index corresponded with severity ratings on the three measures of concurrent validity: the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Kessler‐10 and Children's Revised Impact of Events Scale. The Index provides a valid and accurate means of reflecting the interconnectedness and complexity of exposure to different forms of harm that accumulates over time. Practitioners and researchers will benefit from using the Cumulative Experiences Index—a new valid and reliable measure of cumulative harm. Key Practitioner Messages: The Cumulative Experiences Index assists practitioners understand the frequency, duration and severity of the harm to a child or young person.The Index provides a valid and accurate means of reflecting the interconnectedness and complexity of exposure to different forms of harm that accumulates over time.Practitioners and researchers are likely to benefit from using the Cumulative Harm Index—a new valid and reliable measure of cumulative harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Family Safeguarding Practice (FSP) framework represents a major shift in the approach to family safeguarding and services, with a much greater emphasis on empowering and supporting the family to be able to care for their child safely and independently. The aim of the study was to understand the impact of the new model to family's experience with children social services and what parts of the model were helpful or challenging. We recruited parents (n = 20) whose children are subject to statutory plans in Oxfordshire County Children Social Services. We used semi‐structured interviews to understand their experiences and views of services following the introduction of the new model (which was implemented in 2021). The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Parents reported positive experiences with social services when communication was clear and concise, and they felt involved and listened to, which motivated them to make changes and address long‐standing difficulties. Parents were especially positive about the involvement of adult‐facing practitioners (AFPs), in many cases, describing them as life transforming. The findings highlight the importance of working with the whole family and not just the child. Parents appreciated the key elements of the FSP programme: continuity of care, AFPs, open communication and better coordination of services. Parents' experiences however were very variable and suggest that some elements of the FSP model such as motivational interviewing and having one social worker throughout were not consistently implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Interventions to enhance positive parenting practices have become a cornerstone of many Western child welfare services. Parental mental health is a crucial factor that influences parenting practices and styles. However, research on the associations between mental health and parenting among parents involved with child welfare services is scarce. The aim of the study was to investigate the associations between self‐reported mental health and parenting practices and emotional style among parents in contact with child welfare services. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted in 2018–2019 (N = 256, 71.5% females). Linear regression analysis, adjusting for potential confounding factors, was conducted. The results indicated that higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms were significantly associated with a higher degree of inconsistent parenting practices, a lower degree of involving parenting practices and higher levels of emotion coaching parenting style. Socioeconomic status slightly attenuated the associations. The results highlight the importance of considering parental mental health when assessing parenting practices and styles among parents in contact with child welfare services. It is also crucial for child welfare workers to be aware of how parental mental health can affect their parenting practices and to address these issues through their interventions in the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child safeguarding services intervene when a child is at risk of serious emotional or physical harm. Oxfordshire County Council is implementing a new approach to child safeguarding (Family Solutions Plus [FSP]) with a greater focus on whole family support and reducing the need for foster care. We sampled two cohorts of children closed within 1 year and examined the time spent in services. The sample included 474 children entering services before the new model's implementation and 561 children after. A greater proportion of children receiving FSP required a single care plan before their case was closed (85.9%; 69.4%, p < 0.001) and only experienced the lowest level plan (74.5%; 61.8%, p < 0.001). On average, this group spent less time in services for the period being observed (MD = 17.58, 95% confidence interval = 6.19, 28.96). At this early stage, no significant reduction in the number of children requiring foster care was seen (5.5%; 3.9%, p = 0.23). These initial findings suggest a potential association of FSP with a reduced number and level of care plans as well as length of time. Local authorities in England may investigate further whether FSP is a potentially useful model in improving safeguarding services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers often fail to engage fathers in child protection investigations (CPIs), especially when they involve domestic abuse (DA) by fathers. The aim of this study is to examine the strategies used by social workers to achieve cooperation with fathers in CPIs that involve the father being suspected of DA against the child's mother. With the use of qualitative methods, we conducted 31 semi‐structured interviews with 15 social workers during their work on 12 CPI cases. Through thematic analysis, two main strategies for achieving cooperation were created: (1) Securing an Initial Bond, which involved reducing the tension in CPI proceedings and affirming the father; (2) Maintaining the Bond while addressing the father's abusive behaviour, which involved negotiating with fathers about the DA and helping them shift their perspective on how their behaviour has impacted the victims. This analysis is rooted in the framework of shame, guilt and social bonds. However, there is a risk that these strategies may lead to the DA being minimized or overlooked. Striking a balance between building a bond and addressing abuse is crucial, and the timing of addressing DA plays a central role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how children from immigrant background experience and negotiate power relations with family and social workers in the context of child protection services (CPS) in Norway. Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology, 11 children from Pakistani background were interviewed about their lived experiences with CPS. Analysis of the data highlights that children have to negotiate and navigate generational and gendered power relations both within the families and the CPS to exercise their agency. The analysis contributes to a limited research field focusing on immigrant children's multidimensional lived realities in the context of CPS, where children's voices are largely missing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a statutory duty for all practitioners to record information in child protection work in England. Case recording is a daily task for practitioners, yet an under-researched area of practice. This continuing professional development (CPD) paper will consider the context in which case recording takes place and highlight messages from child protection reviews and enquiries before exploring learning from contemporary research. The complexities of case recording will be considered and how practitioners can reflect upon and improve their daily case recording skills. Practitioners are encouraged to keep the child's views and experiences central and consider the long-term impact of case recording on adults who have experienced abuse and neglect in childhood. Key Practitioner Messages • Case recording is a complex and nuanced task, often missing the multiple perspectives inherent in a child's narrative. • The views, experiences and identity of individual children and young people can be lost in case recording, especially for very young children, older children and those in sibling groups. • Case recording has a support function for care experienced adults to understand their childhood histories, aiding recovery from abuse and neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada and elsewhere, efforts have been made to regulate the use of secure care on welfare grounds. Yet, studies raise questions about its usefulness as a psychosocial intervention since it appears to be mostly experienced as a punishment. The main objective of the current study was therefore to explore adolescents' experiences of secure care. We conducted qualitative interviews with 25 adolescents aged 14 to 17 years old while they were placed in secure care units in the province of Quebec, Canada. Uncertainty regarding how to exit secure care was the most important theme that emerged. Participants did not always understand the words used by practitioners to frame their expectations. Adolescents were also uncertain about how to prove they no longer presented a risk to others or themselves while being in locked settings. This uncertainty generated a lot of anger and distress. To get some control back, adolescents chose to just comply and pretend to agree with practitioners. The present paper questions the utility and even legitimacy of secure care as it is currently used. However, we argue that if an ethic of care predominated our conceptualisation of secure care, rather than an ethic of justice, adolescents could feel both secure and cared for.Key Practitioner Messages: Adolescents do not perceive they are being cared for while in secure care, so they only wish to get out as soon as possible;The fact that adolescents do not understand the objectives they must attain and how they can reach these goals in locked settings causes anxiety and distress;Adolescents only focus on how they can convince practitioners that they ‘deserve’ to get out and not on why they were placed in secure care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Child protection and welfare systems are entrusted with significant power by governments and are therefore a significant focus of monitoring activities. Monitoring can help to build a better child protection system and to ensure child safety; track policy and legislative implementation and resource allocation; contribute to preventing systemic ‘failures’; provide data for system, policy, and legislative reforms; and support continuous improvement. The Irish system is worth examining for three reasons. First, Ireland has had a single state‐provided child protection and welfare service called the Child and Family Agency. Second, the system has been through a sustained period of development. Third, Ireland has one dedicated statutory authority called the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). This article provides a case study of the strategies and mechanisms adopted by Ireland to monitor the operation, quality and development of its child protection and welfare system. We will show that there is significant direct and indirect monitoring and focus on child protection from regulators, civil society organisations, government agencies and committees and independent actors. Such monitoring has significantly influenced the development of policy, practice and the development of the child protection system in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT It is now well established that young people who, for different reasons, grow up in care face particular challenges when they leave the care system. Many policies have been enacted to support them, but not enough is known about their subjective views on their situation and what their idea of well‐being is and their aspirations in its regard. The article presents the results of a survey which involved 454 Italian care leavers aged 16–25 years old. The study was constructed with them, with the aim of understanding their condition, their opinion about the child protection system (CPS) and their subjective perception of well‐being regarding different life dimensions. Findings are useful to highlight factors associated with subjective well‐being (SWB), such as economic precarity, age and gender. Children participation seems to make a difference in the largest number of life domains, including the relationship with the birth family. The research underscored the overall value of participation for care leavers: holding together the many aspects that support SWB can indeed facilitate the construction of contextualized knowledge, thus providing useful and solidly grounded instruments with which to implement policies and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation at birth due to safeguarding concerns is a deeply distressing and impactful event, with numbers rising across the world, and has devastating outcomes for birth mothers and their children. It is one of the most challenging aspects of contemporary midwifery practice in high‐income countries, although rarely discussed and reflected on during pre‐ and post‐registration midwifery training. Ethnic and racial disparities are prevalent both in child protection and maternity services and can be explained through an intersectional lens, accounting for biases based on race, gender, class, and societal beliefs around motherhood. With this paper, we aim to contribute to the growing body of critical midwifery studies and re‐think the role of midwives in this context. Building on principles of reproductive justice theory, Intersectionality, and Standpoint Midwifery, we argue that midwives play a unique role when supporting women who go through child protection processes and should pursue a shift from passive bystander to active upstander to improve care for this group of mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Supervision is integral to social work practice; however, how it operates in day‐to‐day practice remains poorly understood. Existing research mainly comprises quantitative and qualitative accounts of social workers' and supervisors' experiences of supervision. More recently, a small number of studies examining the content of supervision have added to our understanding of what happens in supervision. However, supervisory interactions outside formal supervision have received scant empirical attention. This paper draws on an ethnographic study of four social work teams in England, exploring how formal and informal case discussion supports social workers' sensemaking. Data comprised observations of case talk in the office space (n = 21) and group case discussions (n = 2), recordings of one‐to‐one supervision (n = 17) and semi‐structured interviews (n = 22). Findings highlighted the importance of space in how social workers perceived and engaged with supervision. Supervisory spaces involve the interaction of physical, thinking and emotional spaces to create spaces that are supportive, task‐focused and reflective. Moreover, these supervisory spaces are not confined to formal one‐to‐one supervision or to the dyadic supervisor–supervisee relationship. This raises questions for how child protection social workers can be best supported, across diverse supervisory spaces and relationships, to ensure their practice is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National and state governments in settler colonial countries are increasingly committing to policies and practices aimed at strengthening Indigenous frameworks, programmes and leadership in child protection services. However, research‐based information on Indigenous child welfare services and programmes is sparse. This qualitative literature review explores and documents key features of Indigenous child welfare and protection models and/or frameworks in an international context, with a specific focus on Indigenous children, young people, families, and communities. Twenty‐four publications meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. Published frameworks, models, services, interventions and/or programmes within the broader area of child welfare and children protection that are Indigenous‐designed and/or led or developed in partnership or collaboration with Indigenous peoples were identified. The review highlights 11 key dimensions that underpin the frameworks, models, services, interventions and/or programmes. Findings of the review also reveal commonalities across Indigenous cultures and contexts that from an Indigenous perspective are considered fundamental to supporting Indigenous children, young people and families involved with child protective services. Additionally, the findings point to the critical need for ongoing advocacy for Indigenous‐designed and led services and programmes, including support for Indigenous research, evaluation and intellectual leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an exploration of social workers' perspectives on the social policy and agency processes that shape their experiences of working in child protection services. A qualitative constructivist grounded theory methodology was employed, and 17 qualified social workers and managers were recruited. Social workers described working within an oppressive system, balancing unrealistic demands placed on them, and struggling to restore balance and hope. They shared how this filtered into the work they do with families and the role that relationality and peer support has in surviving the work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, the child welfare system in Ontario, Canada, expanded the age of protection to include 16 and 17 year olds for the purpose of mitigating risk of harm for older adolescents. To date, there is little information regarding investigations of older adolescents, particularly in Ontario; this study will address this gap. Data used for this analysis were drawn from the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect‐2018. The Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect‐2018 sample data were weighted to derive an annual incidence estimate of 155 649 maltreatment‐related investigations conducted in Ontario in 2018. Child, caregiver, household, and investigation characteristics were compared across three age groups: children (0–10), younger adolescents (11–15), and older adolescents (16–17). Characteristics and differences in the likelihood of a service response (referral to nonchild welfare services, transfer to ongoing child welfare services, or placement in out‐of‐home care during the investigation) were examined descriptively and using chi‐square automatic interaction detection. Half of investigations involving older adolescents received a service response, and they were more likely to receive a service response when there were concerns about future risk of harm, where there were concerns about the relationship between the adolescent and their caregivers, where internalizing or externalizing symptoms were noted, where caregivers had few social supports, and where the household experienced economic hardship. These findings suggest that older adolescents are being triaged for circumstances that reflect concerns about their vulnerability, including mental health needs, attachment concerns, and caregiver isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers routinely make judgements and decisions as part of their everyday practice. The nature and quality of these can have a significant and long‐lasting impact on the children and families concerned. In this paper, we present an analysis of more than 20 000 judgements (n = 21 193) made by social workers (n = 586) in relation to case vignettes, based on a series of anonymized referrals (n = 12) to social services in England. We do so to ascertain how accurately the social workers were able to predict subsequent actions, events and outcomes, and to calculate the ratio of true positives to false positives at various decision thresholds. We find that the social workers' predictions were more accurate than chance in relation to all but one of the referrals, albeit at the cost of a high rate of false positive errors. We consider these findings in relation to what appears to be a general lowering of the threshold for child protection interventions in England in recent years and in relation to who suffers the injustice of false positive errors in child and family social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Over the last decades, child protection workers (CPWs) have largely focused on improving their work with a strength‐based approach in order to empower families. This study investigates to what extent CPWs draw on families' strengths, that is, by promoting autonomy and competencies and by involving their informal networks in goal formulation. This quantitative study analysed the goals, as stated in case files, formulated by CPWs for 177 families within a single Dutch child protection service. 48.6% of CPWs prioritise promoting families' autonomy in goal formulation. With regard to competencies, only 40.1% of the goals refer to the families' competencies. In addition, the support system that the goals call upon tends to be dominated by formal rather than informal networks (in 71.2% of cases). While it is true that child protection cases can benefit from the support of a formal networks, CPWs overwhelmingly failed to encourage support from existing informal networks (in 95.5% of cases). There were no relationships between these percentages and the nature of the family problems or the question of whether or to what extent the CPWs identified the specific strengths of families. These findings show that half of the CPWs had integrated a strength‐based approach in their daily practice to some extent, and therefore improvements are needed in order to more successfully encourage families to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Although vulnerability is a somewhat nebulous concept, the term is widely used in child protection, and child protection workers often refer to vulnerability when describing the situations of families they work with. Because perceiving families as vulnerable or as living in vulnerable conditions may impact interventions, it is important to know what child protection workers mean when they talk about vulnerability. To this end, we explored community family workers' conceptions of the vulnerability of families involved with Quebec's child protection system for reasons of child neglect. Thematic analyses of semistructured interviews with nine community family workers revealed two main components to their conceptions of vulnerability: (1) a distinction between vulnerability, viewed as an intrinsic characteristic of all human beings, and (2) a heightened vulnerability caused by the cumulative effect of lacking resources in several domains. We discuss the impact of these conceptions of vulnerability on community family workers' perceptions of families and of the child protection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Restoring children from out‐of‐home care (OOHC) to their families is the preferred outcome for all children removed by child protection services, yet little is known about how restoration processes are experienced by families and services supporting them. This paper provides important insights about Aboriginal child restoration from 40 practitioners and stakeholders at a community forum led by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. This is one component of larger Aboriginal‐led research, which investigates child protection experiences and pathways to successful restoration in NSW and the data source for this paper. The community forum explored the issues for families navigating family preservation, OOHC and restoration within child protection and legal systems. Findings include the need for a continuum of support for families throughout their engagement with child protection systems and crucially following the removal of their children. Barriers to effective restoration practice included a lack of access to meaningful and ongoing preservation services, insufficient cultural care planning and family finding efforts that are often too late, the pressure on services to support families without adequate capabilities or enough resourcing, the lack of transparency and the complexities in navigating the restoration process, and the lack of culturally informed support for children and their families while children are in care. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. This paper contributes to understanding practice, processes and barriers for restoration, particularly focused on the perspectives of Aboriginal families and communities, with potential insights for practice within Australia and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Children in families affected by substance use disorders are at high risk of being placed in out‐of‐home care (OOHC). We aimed to describe the characteristics of parents who inject drugs and identify correlates associated with child placement in OOHC. Method s : We used baseline data from a community‐based cohort of parents who inject drugs (SuperMIX) from Melbourne, Australia. Participants were recruited via convenience, respondent‐driven and snowball sampling from April 2008 to November 2020, with follow‐up until March 2021. To explore correlates associated with child placement to OOHC, we used multivariable logistic regression and assessed for potential interactions between gender and a range of relevant covariates. Results: Of the 1067 participants, 611 (57%) reported being parents. Fifty‐six percent of parents reported child protection involvement. Almost half (49%) had children in OOHC. Nearly half of the parents lived in unstable accommodation (44%) and many of them experienced moderate–severe levels of anxiety (48%) and depression (53%). Female or non‐binary gender, identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, experiencing assault and having more children were associated with child removal to OOHC. Of the 563 participants who reported their own childhood care status, 135 (24%) reported they had been removed to OOHC. Discussion and Conclusions: We identified high rates of child placement in OOHC among parents who inject drugs. There is a need for targeted health and social services, that are gender and culturally responsive, in addition to systems‐level interventions addressing social inequities, such as housing, to support parents to care for their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined relationships between area‐level deprivation, local authorities' social care expenditure and the rates of children entering care proceedings in England using a novel data linkage of de‐identified records provided by the Children and Family Court Advisory Service (Cafcass). Using structural equation modelling, the authors found strong positive relationships between socioeconomic area deprivation and high rates of children undergoing care proceedings in England between 2015 and 2019. Preventative social care expenditure is associated with lower child rates when adjusting for deprivation. Our findings suggest that deprived and underfunded local authorities respond to an increased need by prioritizing care arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Victims of child sexual abuse (CSA) in criminal proceedings face a range of stress factors. In response to this, collaboration between criminal justice and child protection professionals has been established both legally and informally, such as in the newly established Childhood Houses in Germany, which follow the model of the Scandinavian Barnahus to reduce stress and prevent revictimisation. This study intends to identify facilitating and inhibiting factors in the collaboration between the child protection and criminal justice systems in cases of CSA in Germany. Twenty‐eight qualitative interviews with experts from child protection, like counselling centre employees (n = 5), psychosocial court supporters (n = 5) and youth welfare office workers (n = 5), and the criminal justice system, like prosecutors (n = 5), police officers (n = 5) and attorneys (n = 3). The interviews are structured by a questionnaire and analysed using Kuckartz's method of qualitative content analysis (QCA). Findings show that key factors like information flow, assessments of collaboration partners, uncertainties about laws and actors' perspectives on reporting and networking determine the success or failure of interagency collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry's (BSPD) first policy document on dental neglect was published online in 2009. It proposed a new original definition of dental neglect, discussed the identification of dental neglect and recommended adopting a tiered response, with three stages of intervention according to level of concern. Furthermore, it detailed how the dental team should both contribute to the child protection process and implement wider measures to safeguard and promote children's welfare. Since 2009, these concepts have been widely adopted in the UK and beyond. Furthermore, there have been significant advances in both research and practice. Policy documents produced by the BSPD represent a majority view, based on the consideration of currently available evidence, and are tailored to a UK working environment. Although this updated document's recommendations remain broadly unchanged, this version reflects the professions' progress in understanding dental neglect and minor updates to terminology and, following a consultation process, has been amended to address the needs of two main audiences—dental professionals and nondental health and social care professionals—in order to enhance interdisciplinary working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, young people's economic and employment possibilities have been compromised, especially in the case of vulnerable populations such as unaccompanied foreign minors who migrate to Spain and enter the guardianship system. The aim of this study was to identify this group's most representative training trajectories, and determine the risk and protective factors involved in their insertion to the labour market. To this end, 16 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with young adult migrants who had left the system and 15 with professionals involved in their socio‐educational intervention. The results highlight various factors that hinder the inclusion of young adult migrants in the formal education system, which has a negative impact on their subsequent insertion to the labour market. Actions and proposals were collected that aim to foster the educational inclusion of young adult migrants and promote their labour market insertion; an area considered essential in the transition to adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children in out‐of‐home care may experience multiple losses, from separation from birth parents and siblings to loss of friendships, culture, and sense of belonging and normality. The impacts of these significant losses on a child's development and wellbeing have typically been the subject of childhood trauma research. While understanding the impact is important, children's experiences of the losses and the ways adults can support them to grieve are less explored in research. Recently, out‐of‐home care researchers have begun to address this knowledge gap by applying the concept of ambiguous loss to capture and understand children's grief and loss. This article builds on this work and reports findings of a qualitative study that involved 30 out‐of‐home care practitioners. Constructivist Grounded Theory was applied to analyse the research data which resulted in the HEAR model that outlines the practice components that out‐of‐home care practitioners considered important in effectively responding to children's experience of ambiguous loss. These components are (1) Honouring ambiguous loss; (2) Establishing a care community; (3) Attuning to the lack of finality of ambiguous loss and (4) Reducing ambiguity. This article presents research findings that supported the development of the HEAR model, and discusses its implications for out‐of‐home care practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent experts are commonly used in child protection care proceedings to assess families and contribute to a sound basis for care order decisions. Yet the role and function of these experts varies across contexts, with issues raised concerning the quality and impact of their reports. Based on six focus group discussions (FGDs) with child welfare service (CWS) social workers in Norway, this study aims to advance the understanding of how independent experts are used when it comes to child protection. Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted, which revealed that the social workers mostly found the experts' contributions useful in that they provide a fresh pair of eyes and reduce the complexities in a case. However, the use of independent experts also had some negative aspects. The social workers experienced that their competence was undermined in court and had some experience working with experts whose work was of poor quality, which was unrecognized by quality control measures. This study raises timely questions about the role of the expert and suggests a clearer distinction between the function of providing expert knowledge to complement the social workers' assessments and the function of providing an independent assessment of the family on behalf of the courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children of colour, especially non‐Hispanic Black, non‐Hispanic Native American, and non‐Hispanic multiracial, continue to be overrepresented across every decision point in the U.S. child welfare system. Existing research has largely focused on documenting the existence of disproportionality, while there has been less focus on interventions and/or approaches specifically designed to reduce this social problem. This study sought to identify and characterize interventions and/or approaches utilized in child welfare for reducing racial disproportionality by conducting a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines. After reviewing over 1000 studies across eight databases, only three studies met criteria for inclusion in this systematic review. The articles all addressed prevention strategies aimed to address risk factors and subjectivity, while employing interventions across both family and organizational/community levels. Three themes emerged, community‐wide targeted intervention, culturally responsive family preservation, and agency‐specific initiatives, which captured the scope of intervention to the extent as possible. Results indicated that training, collaboration, and comprehensive reform are promising, yet large‐scale systemic efforts must take priority for meaningful change to occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational workshops are channels for raising awareness and implementing childhood interventions in African communities. However, community (in)action during and after workshops can be a dichotomy that is less researched. Using a joint dialogic and ethnographic approach, we analysed and observed the responses and actions of NGO workers and rural folks on the occasion of a childhood intervention project. Findings reveal that community action in childhood during face‐to‐face interaction can be contradictory aftermath. We use the analytical framework of dramaturgy to inform and discuss how NGOs can get to know rural folks' deep‐seated perspectives on childhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews 26 reports into deaths and serious abuse of children in families who were subject to the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) rule. Our analysis illustrates vulnerabilities caused by exclusionary policies, exacerbating social deprivation and isolation experienced by the children and families and making it more difficult for professionals to respond in ways which safeguarded children's welfare. Drawing upon a social model for protecting children that requires recognition of the social determinants of harm and the economic, social and cultural barriers faced by families, we examine the experiences of children and families with NRPF who were the subject of a serious case review, and the responses of agencies responsible for safeguarding child welfare. We conclude with recommendations for practices aimed at promoting the rights and well‐being of children and families subject to NRPF rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child protection work requires professionals to manage the different perspectives regarding intervention aims and strategies associated with different personal, academic and organisational backgrounds. Parenting assessment is a determinant task for intervention and for children's future where universal or automatic criteria remain unavailable. This study aimed to explore and characterise the existing agreement (and disagreement) between child protection workers on statements related to judgements on parenting. A total of 325 Portuguese social workers participated in the study, mostly with a background in social work and psychology and more than six years of experience in child protection. Professionals were required to distribute 50 sentences in a scoring sheet (Q‐sort methodology) with 11 points. The results were interpreted through the matrix of operationalisation of minimally adequate parenting. Three main answer strands revealed different focuses in sorts' configurations: the child, the procedures and the child's ecology. The clear difference between the factors could contribute to maintaining the child protection system as an adversarial one, and not as an effectively cooperative system. To promote team cohesiveness and intervention success, and to reinforce professionals' wellbeing and resilience, metacommunication on parenting assessment criteria is proposed as a determinant strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child neglect poses many issues for social work, notably in terms of effective assessment leading to informed intervention targeting the needs of children and families. In response to this challenge, our multiphase research project is developing a new multiagency child neglect measurement tool. The phase of the project reported in this article administered an online survey via Qualtrics to explore the views of children and families social workers on assessing child neglect. One hundred and twenty‐nine completed responses were received from registered children and families social workers in England and Wales. The main findings are that social workers are regularly undertaking child neglect assessments and feel relatively confident in completing them. They also feel relatively confident that their assessments are inclusive of social harms such as poverty and social isolation, but less confident they are accurate and informed by research evidence. Almost two‐thirds are using a child neglect assessment tool, but they lack confidence in these accurately assessing neglect or being quick and simple to use. The findings illustrate that social workers require both the work conditions and tools to use in which they feel confident to undertake balanced and accurate assessments of child neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a dearth of research focused on practice responses with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) children and young people experiencing domestic and family violence (DFV). This knowledge gap may result in a lack of professional guidance and clarity for practitioners who work in this complex context. This small‐scale qualitative research study explored practice responses with CALD children and young people. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with nine practitioners who supported and responded to CALD children and young people and their families at the intersection of DFV and child protection. Data included their practice experience, professional knowledge and practice wisdom. A thematic analysis was used that highlighted the importance of practitioners prioritising the needs of children and young people and navigating the complexities of culture and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aimed to explore how clinical psychologists respond to child safeguarding dilemmas, with special attention to the role of psychology in child welfare. Transcripts from 20 semi‐structured interviews with clinical psychologists working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in England were analysed using a qualitative framework approach. In these interviews, two family case vignettes were used to examine how psychologists respond to child safeguarding dilemmas. We identified three overarching themes: operating within a system of stretched resources; characterising who is considered 'supportable' by psychological services; and challenges around conceptualising and responding to risk. Clinical psychologists viewed social services as responsible for family cases with safeguarding concerns and were reluctant to engage in high‐risk cases where stability in the home was not yet established. They saw their role in child welfare primarily as sense‐makers for families, by offering a contextualised explanation/formulation for the presenting difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a history of critique, concentrated discussion and improved assessment processes, neglect continues to be a major challenge for child protection services. This paper draws on findings from a government‐commissioned analysis of 'serious case reviews' (SCRs) in England, arising from incidents of serious child abuse in 2017–2019. There were 235 cases, for which 166 final reports were available. Alongside a quantitative analysis of the whole cohort, we undertook an in‐depth qualitative analysis of 12 cases involving neglect. A key challenge in responding to neglect in its different forms is that it can be so widespread amongst families that practitioners no longer notice its severity or chronicity – it becomes normalised. In this paper we explore two dimensions of the 'paradox of neglect' where it seems to be everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. The first is that neglect is so closely bound up with the prevalence of poverty that little action is taken to address it. The second is that the overwhelming nature of neglect can blind practitioners to other forms of maltreatment that may also be present within a family. Practitioners, now more than ever, need to recognise the dimensions of this paradox to protect children from neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between children's human rights to protection and to what is commonly referred to as 'participation' has received significant attention, with many scholars critiquing the purported tension between the two approaches and demonstrating how child participation should be a core feature of child protection. Less attention has been paid to the converse and, we argue, essential precursor of participatory protection practice – the significance of the child's right to be protected from harm as a means to ensuring successful child participation. Drawing on the example of the multidisciplinary Barnahus model, this article explores the multifaceted relationship between participation and protection, suggesting that there needs to be greater acknowledgement of the role of collective child participation in delivering the conditions where individual children who have witnessed or experienced violence feel and are safe to express themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Live‐in child domestic work is an often exploitative informal labour sector that involves child migration and long‐term separation of children from their family. While studies have documented the impact of family separation in cases of adult migration and young adult migration, little is known about the impact of child migration and related parent–child separation. This small‐scale, explorative qualitative study aimed to understand lived experiences of parent–child separation through in‐depth interviews with seven parents of children working at households in Karnataka, as live‐in domestic help. This study is the first of its kind to explore parental experiences of separation from their child/ren in the context of live‐in domestic work and explores notions on the existence of choice in decision‐making, and sheds light on how practices of separation are interlinked with socioeconomic factors, societal hierarchy and cultural practices of parenting that lead to understanding and coping with the ensuing separation. It concludes by identifying some policy implications that are relevant for organizations seeking to re‐unify and reintegrate children with their families after a period of separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The independent review of children's social care (2022) has proposed a radical reset of England's children's services, shifting a remote, assessment heavy system towards one that works alongside communities to help prevent statutory interventions. However, notions around the harnessing of community resources to deliver Early Help are often underpinned by assumptions regarding the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector and the ease with which such organizations can be integrated into preventative strategies. This paper reports findings from embedded research within a unitary authority in Southwest England during remodelling of its Early Help service to work more collaboratively with local VCSE organizations. The study generated data from ethnographic observations, semi‐structured interviews and focus groups with 95 participants, including local parents, service providers, VCSE organizations and Council leaders. The findings illustrate that families value the compassionate, responsive and flexible support available within many VCSE settings. However, differences in practice cultures, regulatory pressures on statutory providers, the need to (re)build trust in communities and sensitivities around power‐sharing and resourcing meant negotiating VCSE sector integration was fraught with complexities. Few studies have gained such privileged access to a Local Authority's remodelling of Early Help services, and this paper has significant insights for the debates surrounding the independent review of children's social care (2022) and its recommendation to bring services 'closer to communities'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]