Radical Safeguarding
In 2021 I partnered with Maslaha to write a resource for school safeguarding practitioners that was rooted in the principles of prison abolition and transformative justice.
We created this resource because we know that ‘safeguarding’ often actively causes harm to the most marginalised young people, particularly young people of colour, and that ‘safeguarding’ training and structures often leave practitioners feeling fearful, lacking in agency and resigned to responding in ways that they know will cause young people and their families further harm. The resource explores cultures and structures of UK schooling that can cause harm to young people, and problematises current safeguarding strategies and practices that pathologise, criminalise and harm children, particularly those from oppressed communities.
Radical Safeguarding - A Social Justice Workbook for Safeguarding Practitioners is designed for practitioners working with children and young people, particularly in school contexts, who might be wondering how to start doing things differently when it comes to safeguarding. Our understanding of a radical approach to child safety is one that traces the root cause of harms to children. This resource looks at some of the cultures and structures that underpin and enable this harm and suggests some models for understanding child safety and a range of practical approaches and activities that we hope can support practitioners in fostering alternative, resistant, safeguarding practices.
The workbook was lovingly brought to life by Soof.