Contextual Safeguarding

Contextual safeguarding is an approach to child protection that recognizes that as children grow into adolescence, they encounter significant risks in social settings beyond the family home. This framework shifts the focus from traditional, family-centered assessments to the external environments where young people spend their time, such as schools, neighborhoods, peer groups, and online spaces. It acknowledges that extra-familial harms—including criminal exploitation, gang involvement, and sexual violence—often occur in contexts where parents have limited influence. By targeting the social conditions of these environments rather than just individual behavior, contextual safeguarding seeks to create safer spaces through multi-agency partnerships and community engagement, ensuring that the
burden of safety does not rest solely on the family.

The following are forms of contextual safeguarding

• Child-on-Child Abuse: Harm caused by other children or young people, which can include physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, as well as bullying, sexual harassment, and sexting.
  (https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/education_and_learning/schools/Safeguarding-resources-for-schools/Child-on-Child-Abuse.aspx)
• Online Safety (E-Safety): Harm that can occur via the internet, including cyberbullying, exposure to inappropriate content, and online grooming or exploitation.
• Child Exploitation:
  o Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE): Where a child is coerced or manipulated into sexual activity.
  o Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE): Where a child is coerced or manipulated into criminal activity, often linked to county lines drug dealing or gang activity.
  (https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/community_and_living/community_safety__crime_preve/domestic_violence/VAWG-Service-Directory/support_services_for_child_sexual_exploitation.aspx)
• Extremism and Radicalisation (The Prevent Duty): Being drawn into terrorism or supporting extremist ideologies.
  (https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/community_and_living/community_safety__crime_preve/Prevent/local_prevent_strategy.aspx)
• Domestic Abuse: Exposure to violence or abuse within the family home, which is a form of emotional abuse. (Link for VAWG services)

For further details please refer to out Safeguarding and child protection policy.