Direct work with children

Learning about children’s experiences, thoughts and feelings is one of the most important tasks in child protection. Children are not passive objects of concern but important agents in their own lives who can provide vital insights into the harm they are facing. Their views and emotions should always be placed centre stage when decisions are being made and plans formulated. And yet we know that this remains an area of challenge for practitioners, who do not always feel skilled in engaging or communicating with children in unsafe situations. As a result, some children feel unheard and unsupported, and the risks they are encountering may not be fully appreciated. Direct work offers a key pathway through which practitioners can gather information, elicit views, help children understand what is happening to them, and provide support. The term refers not only to formal, planned work carried out over a number of sessions, but to everyday, impromptu or brief interactions with children on their own, in sibling groups, or with their parents or carers present. This chapter will clarify the role and place of direct work, explore what may lie beneath practitioner struggles, and set out some principles and approaches which are proving helpful in child protection practice.