Safeguarding the safeguarders: Supporting workers with children who sexually abuse peers

Abstract

Working with children and young people who sexually abuse peers is arguably one of the most professionally demanding roles in the context of safeguarding and child protection. The field is, therefore, at a potentially higher risk for employee attrition, implying a need for local authorities to make a commitment to training and service evaluation and improvement. This paper is a report on research commissioned by one committed local authority to evaluate training, professional supervision, organisational support and the dynamics of the local teams delivering a front line service to this vulnerable group of young people and their care providers. Of particular concern was the identification of factors that play a role in encouraging professionals either to remain in the safeguarding team or to leave. Twenty-four keyworkers were followed through specific training with pre- and post-measures of resilience and follow-up structured interviews 14 months into service delivery post-training. The occupational attrition rate amongst participants was very high, with only two of the original sample remaining in post. This study found that the training had no impact on personal worker resilience, and although organisational commitment was perceived to be high, neither of these factors proved sufficient to motivate a higher retention rate of trained keyworkers. The results indicated that the real difficulties arose within the smaller local safeguarding/child protection teams in relation to role confusion, structural difficulties and a lack of the necessary level of specialist support.