RCGP Safeguarding toolkit

Contextual safeguarding

Contextual safeguarding recognises that as young people grow and develop they are influenced by a whole range of environments and people outside of their family. For example in school or college, in the local community, in their peer groups or online. Children and young people may encounter risk in any of these environments. The different relationships that young people form in their neighbourhoods, schools and online can feature violence and abuse. Sometimes the different contexts are inter-related and can mean that children and young people may encounter multiple risks.

Contextual safeguarding looks at how we can best understand these risks, engage with children and young people and help to keep them safe. It is an approach to understanding, and responding to, young people’s experiences of significant harm beyond their families.

It's an approach that's often been used to apply to adolescents, though the lessons can equally be applied to younger children, especially in today's changing world.

Parents and carers have little influence over these contexts, and young people’s experiences of extra-familial abuse can undermine parent-child relationships.

References

• NSPCC. Contextual safeguarding: what is it and why does it matter? 2019. 
• Durham University. Contextual safeguarding. 2024.