The BASPCAN Congress 2015 might have been the 9th such congress, but it was my first – first for me as a professional who is passionate about safeguarding vulnerable people whatever their age, and a first for my company as an exhibitor.
My colleagues and I went there to generate a conversation regarding practice change; something we believe in and hope to build around safeguarding the vulnerable in society. We managed this on both levels; through my own presentation concerning the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) model; and the company through the many conversations on the subject we had with colleagues from around the world.
The congress allowed me to soak up interesting views from a range of academics representing a myriad of cultures and countries.
A diet of intervention discussion, therapeutic consideration and suggested new ways of understanding and translating data filled up most of my waking hours. Furthermore, there was the intellectual challenge of working out which presentation or group to attend next, where it might be located and at what time. There was certainly no time to reflect.
Nevertheless, three presentations stood out for me:
- Sue Berelowitz, the Deputy Children’s Commissioner, was outstanding, passionate and determined to ensure children are visible in the system.
- Simon Bailey, Chief Constable of Norfolk , spoke passionately concerning his strategic vision for the police service around child protection.
- Dr James Mercy from the US delivered an interesting insight into the power data collected across the globe can make in changing policy and people’s lives.
Away from these main speakers it was interesting to listen to some research from abroad that highlighted practice issues long since addressed in the UK. This reinforced to me the great practice strides our safeguarding services have made in the UK during the past 10 years.
Several colleagues and fellow congress attendees identified this point and it is odd to sit through a presentation concerning research that showed practice and policy issues in one part of the globe, which had been radically amended in our own jurisdictions years ago.
As well as the negative in this global point there is the huge positive – practice change has clearly occurred across multiple jurisdictions known to me and those who made the same points in the pub afterwards. I’m always wary against complacency. Indeed, Sue Berelowitz constantly guards us against such thoughts, but we should all remember to celebrate success and improvement when we recognise it.
The experience of the congress, however, has left me with clear reflections interwoven through the comments above.
There are countless outstanding individuals across the globe delivering solid evidence-based research that is used to make professional practice suggestions as well as supporting the need for ever more research.
This is wonderful, but I feel there is a growing challenge to ensure we don’t lose sight of the delivery end of our businesses at times like this. We need to ensure – as Sue Berelowitz constantly reminds us – that children and all vulnerable people are utterly visible and the centre of all we do, including research. Moreover, research involving the very people we all seek to help is critical.
Doing the things we know work properly in partnership arrangements and to the highest possible standards is just as important. Innovation and practice that uplift through experience are also critical to improved outcomes for the vulnerable. It isn’t always possible to base all change on a plethora of research and evidence. Innovation is what it says on the tin: innovative.
Practitioners and professionals have ideas worth considering as well, built on their evidence of experience and knowledge.
We need to remember the professionals who are striving to deliver services and better outcomes for individuals, families and communities across the UK and beyond. They need the tools, quality supervision and processes that are wholly effective and efficient to support them. They also need the political support and workable corporate structures to ensure they are able to operate effectively across organisational boundaries, and also feel valued in what they do at the same time.
Constant and depressing criticism and calls for the criminalisation of professionals for making mistakes is taking its toll. I will also argue, but not in detail in this piece, that maybe it’s time to consider that our safeguarding structures at the national level may be ready for radical consideration.
Research might deliver the understanding of the things that work well (or not), but we need motivated, innovative, well-resourced professionals to deliver it to the highest standards.
Let’s celebrate our successes and let them nourish change both locally and globally.