Our NWG forums have been developed to bring together leads and practitioners in the field of exploitation, so that we can share practice and learn from each other, adapting to meet the needs of the safeguarding community.

It is often tricky making the move from a physical forum where people can get together and talk about their work, to creating a space online to have those discussions. This was something the NWG was keen to do, as networking and sharing practice is the cornerstone of the NWG. We ran our first online Coordinators and Practitioners Exploitation Forum this Autumn. The first part created an opportunity to reflect as a group on the learning from the coronavirus pandemic on services and what will be taken forward into the future, summarised below. The second part of the forum was a presentation from Telford’s CATE team on their innovative CCE pathway designed to promote the relational practice.

Young People

All areas have had to utilise virtual and digital platforms to maintain contact with children and their families and services have demonstrated their flexibility in response to the variance of need. In some cases, it has facilitated the engagement of young people where this had not been achieved pre lockdown/in the actual world and for others, it has enhanced existing relationships.  There is also a need to remember that for a small number of children, digital contact is a barrier to service provision e.g. digital poverty and for us to be aware of confidentiality and who else may be in the room that we cannot see. Not being able to see body language and facial expressions was also a concern for some.  As to how the success of digital contact will be in the future, especially with the potential for more imminent local lockdowns, this is unknown but the blending of face to face and a digital offer for children is something that we will see more of in the future to ensure a menu of options are available for service users.

Parents

Throughout the pandemic, there have been opportunities created to offer support for parents in their own right and for this to be recognised by services.  This has worked especially well when it is offered outside of statutory services and through voluntary services.  Services shared how they could adapt to ensure the needs of parents were being met so they could be worked with as safeguarding partners as well as reducing isolation for parents.

The key message that came across from attendees is to ask young people and their families what digital platforms work for them.  Some found the face to face input from video calls helpful whilst others found it intimidating and preferred phone calls or texts. A nuanced approach is required through a flexible service offer.

Staff

Staff emotional and physical well-being and safety have been a discussion across a number of NWG forums especially as areas are working to tackle wider exploitation. Throughout the pandemic, there has been an unprecedented shift from office to home working. Practitioners and leads shared their personal reflections of the challenge of home working and parenting in conditions that were not anticipated and discussions allowed good insight into the realities staff face as well as their resilience. “Working from home or living at work” sums up the impact of safeguarding being delivered from home and the difficulty of switching off and separating our home and work life. Areas talked about the benefits of meetings online and these being timely and better attended. Some areas shared using technology to bring teams together but working on our own away from our colleagues, teams and circles of support is a challenge everyone is facing for the foreseeable future.

• Key message – Recovery needs to be informed by the views of children, parents and staff.

Details of our forums can be found at https://www.nwgnetwork.org/events/

Maria Cassidy

NWG Families & Communities Lead

E: [email protected]

M: 07399 449041