Transitional Safeguarding
1. Safeguarding and Transition
Safeguarding risks
Young people can experience a range of safeguarding risks.
Some may be at risk because of vulnerabilities caused by a physical disability, cognitive impairment or other need for care and support.
Others may have no need for care and support. Instead, it is their situation or the context in which they are living that makes them vulnerable. For example, they may be witnessing or experiencing domestic abuse, living in care, be an immigrant/refugee or be part of a culture where familial abuse can occur (for example, FGM, honour-based abuse or forced marriage). These young people are particularly vulnerable to organised exploitation, including sexual exploitation, County Lines, radicalisation and modern slavery.
Safeguarding duties
For children and young people under 18, safeguarding duties are normally carried out by children’s services. They are governed by The Children’s Act 1989 and the Working Together to Safeguard Children Statutory Guidance.
These legal frameworks apply to ALL children, regardless of their level of need or specific circumstances.
From the age of 18, a young person legally becomes an adult, and the safeguarding frameworks that had previously protected them from harm can no longer be applied.
Safeguarding duties in adulthood are governed by the Care Act 2014 and safeguarding responsibilities normally transfer to adult services.
Unlike the children’s safeguarding duty, the adult safeguarding duty does not apply to all adults. It only applies when:
- The adult has needs for Care and Support (whether these have been assessed or are being met by the local authority or not); and
- They are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing abuse or neglect; and
- As a result of Care and Support needs, they are unable to protect themselves against the abuse or neglect.
Having accessed care and support services as a child does not necessarily mean that an adult needs assessment will identify the same/any care and support needs, as the eligibility thresholds are different.
The impact of different frameworks
Safeguarding risks do not simply disappear when a young person becomes 18. However, as a result of the sudden change in safeguarding frameworks and needs assessment eligibility described above, many young adults experience a ‘cliff edge’ effect, where they suddenly find themselves without the professional support they needed or relied upon to stay safe from harm as a child.
Reduced access to professional support at this stage can have negative consequences for the young adult and for public services on a longer-term basis:
- Ongoing harm caused by abuse, neglect or exploitation;
- Impact on relationships and informal networks of support;
- Impact on housing circumstances;
- Impact on employment and employment opportunities;
- Impact on financial security;
- Serious mental health issues such as trauma, PTSD, self-harm and addictions;
- Physical health issues such as STD’s, unwanted pregnancy, physical injuries;
- Criminal behaviour requiring police/judicial intervention.
2. What is Transitional Safeguarding?
Transitional safeguarding is an approach to safeguarding that applies to children’s services, adult services and all partner agencies. It aims to prevent the ‘cliff edge’ effect and reduce the risks to young adults and society associated with ongoing abuse, neglect or exploitation.
It begins by recognising that chronological age is not always an indicator of a person’s ability to function well and stay safe as an ‘adult’. Adulthood is instead seen as a stage of life, not an event and like every stage of life, is achieved at different times by everyone.
Transitional safeguarding requires a more fluid approach across all services, allowing the right underpinning principles and approaches to be applied at the right time to ensure a more tailored approach, albeit still within the relevant age-related legal framework.
The type of support that a young person will need during their transition to adulthood depends on a whole range of factors and is not determine by whether they have care and support needs.
Example: A young adult who has experienced trauma, neglect and abuse, might require additional support to be safe and well during this phase of their lives, to reduce the risk of mental health issues and to build resilience against future risk.
Example: A young person under 18, with the desire to make their own choices and decisions about risk could benefit from the highly personalised and rights-based safeguarding approach usually used with adult safeguarding.
3. A Transitional Safeguarding Approach in Practice
Key principles
The key principles of a transitional safeguarding approach are that it is:
- Evidence-informed;
- Contextual - moving beyond a young person/adult and their family, and considering the wider systems, contexts and spaces in which a young person/adult experiences harm and safety issues; including sexual exploitation outside of the family, radicalisation, county lines and domestic abuse;
- Developmental - understanding the distinct developmental needs and strengths of this life stage and creating services and pathways that reflect the individualised nature of transition to adulthood. It encourages greater fluidity between children and adult safeguarding processes and requires an active effort to align systems to create a smoother more holistic offer for people being supported;
- Relational - being person-centred;
- Participative; and
- That it attends to issues of equalities, diversity and inclusion.
Applying Safeguarding Adult Principles
Adult services should work with children’s service colleagues to ensure that they understand rights-based adult safeguarding principles and can effectively apply them in practice with those under the age of 18 when there is a clear benefit to doing so.
These are:
- The aims of all adult safeguarding;
- The duty to promote individual wellbeing;
- The six key principles of adult safeguarding;
- Making Safeguarding Personal.
For detailed information about all these safeguarding adult principles see: Overarching Aims, Duties and Principles.
Applying the Mental Capacity Act 2005
Elements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 can be complex to interpret and apply but have a big impact on safeguarding outcomes for young people from the age of 16.
Disagreements about mental capacity often occur in transition and trying to promote the autonomy of a young person can lead to conflict and disagreement with their informal networks, particularly parents. If not well-managed, this can increase familial safeguarding risks for the young person and cause damage to the very networks of support that they may come to rely on to stay safe in adulthood.
Adult social care services work with the Mental Capacity Act every day and should support colleagues in children’s services and partner agencies to understand how to apply it, and how to manage conflict and complexities.
Specific support around the following may be particularly beneficial:
- IMCA’s and active participation;
- Unwise decision making;
- Recognising and responding to coercion and control;
- Restraint;
- Deprivation of liberty;
- The role of the Court of Protection and the use of inherent jurisdiction.
If a young person lacks capacity to make decisions around safeguarding or any other matter identified during transition, children’s services should also be confident to discuss the legal frameworks that can support families to remain active in decision-making. For example, Deputyship and Appointeeship.
Understanding the impact of childhood abuse and exploitation
Children’s services and are experienced in supporting children and young people to recover from experiences of abuse and exploitation. The impact of childhood trauma is not something that is quick to resolve, and young adults may need ongoing support with their recovery and to manage ongoing risks and vulnerabilities from their networks or environment.
Children’s services should support adult services colleagues to understand the impact that childhood trauma has had and may continue to have on a young person, and the kind of professional support they may continue to need. This may not be social work support, but counselling, mental health services or spiritual support.
By understanding this, and subsequently supporting the young adult to access the preventative help they need, negative consequences and the risk of future harm or need for services can be somewhat mitigated.
Preventative approach
Under the Care Act 2014, adult services have a duty to prevent, reduce or delay any need for care or support from the age of 18.
A transitional approach in practice requires adult services, and their partner agencies, to recognise that appropriate and proportionate safeguarding interventions for young adults that do not have care and support needs can be an effective way of reducing the risk that future needs for local authority or partner agency services will develop.
Working together
As well as learning from each other and developing each other's skills, children’s services should also involve adult services (and relevant partner agencies) in individual cases where safeguarding plans are likely to need ongoing action/review from the age of 18. Adult services should contribute to those plans by sharing their knowledge of support and services that the young person may be able to access and considering who will need to be involved in making sure this is effective.
Likewise, adult services should involve children’s services (and relevant partner agencies) after the young person has turned 18 when it is relevant to do so. This may be to better understand the impact of childhood trauma or the ongoing risks from County Lines or other organised criminal activity. It could also include agreeing that a children’s service practitioner will continue to act as the main point of contact for the young adult, if they have a positive relationship and are best placed to work with them in order to prevent or reduce ongoing risks.
Children's and adult services should always be open to sharing information appropriately, supporting each other and learning from each other.
4. The role of SAB’s and SCP’s
Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs) and Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships must work together to promote a more fluid safeguarding response.
Practical ideas include:
- Shared learning and development opportunities;
- Greater emphasis on co-design;
- Flexible commissioning frameworks;
- Improved local needs analysis; and
- Sharing examples of innovation across local areas.
SAB’s and SCP’s, along with partner agencies and equivalent boards/partnerships in other areas should also work together to disrupt criminal activity that poses an ongoing risk to young people and young adults.
5. Further Information and Guidance
Northumberland Safeguarding Transitions Protocol
The purpose of the protocol is to:
- Provide clear referral guidance to use in those situations where it may not be clear which Safeguarding Procedures (Adults or Children’s) apply.
- Ensure effective and timely referrals are made between Children’s and Adult services.
- Develop and improve joint working practices across all services.
See Northumberland Safeguarding Transitions Protocol
National Guidance
Local Government Association (LGA): Transitional safeguarding resources
Transitional safeguarding-adolescence to adulthood: Strategic Briefing (2018)
Bridging the Gap: Transitional Safeguarding and the Role of Social Work with Adults
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