RCGP Safeguarding toolkit

Disguised compliance involves parents and carers appearing to co-operate with professionals in order to allay concerns and stop professional engagement. Disguised compliance, resistance and denial are common features of families with early help needs. Apparent resistance may be the result of fear, stigma, shame, denial, ambivalence, or the parent’s lack of confidence in their ability to change or lack of insight into their parenting capability and the impact on their children.

Indicators of disguised compliance can include:

• a lack of measurable progress at reviews, despite apparent effort and cooperation from parents
• parental agreement to change but not completing agreed actions to achieve it
• change occurring due to the efforts of other agencies rather than the parents
• inconsistency in the areas where change is achieved with parents opting to work with some professionals and not others or on some actions and not others; children’s views differing significantly from that of the parents
• frequent missed appointments
• exaggerated co-operation and compliance
• attempts to minimise professionals’ concerns or denial of the impact of the lived experience of the child
• aggressive or threatening behaviour when challenged
• unjustified claims of progress being made, or actions carried out, and a refusal to discuss key issues whilst focussing on others that have less or no impact for the child.

Professionals should:

• Consider the professional relationship with parents and ensure parents feel respected and avoid judgmental language or assertions about their behaviours or motivation.
• Be aware that disguised compliance could be occurring.
• Be alert to the risk of collusion with parents. Where parents appear co-operative, remain open to hearing the voice of the child throughout the process and always measure parents’ assertions there has been progress against the child’s lived experience. See and speak to the child regularly.
• Display professional curiosity when working with families and not accept information from parents and carers at face value without investigating further.
• Maintain respectful uncertainty.
• Establish the facts and gather evidence about what is actually happening or has been achieved.
• Focus on the child’s lived experience rather than the parents’ and carers’ actions.
• Share information with other professionals regularly and check on their view of progress made to challenge your assumptions.

References

• North Wales Safeguarding Board. Practice Guide. Working with people displaying disguised compliance. 2020. 
• NSPCC. Disguised Compliance. 2019.