Introduction

What are the options for parents if they are concerned about their child being at risk of harm outside of the home? What might go through your mind if you were tidying your child's room and you found a large quantity of drugs or a knife? Would you try and address the situation yourself? Call the police? Call children's social care? Jayne shared her experience after being asked how responses to this type of harm could improve. When she started to tell her story, she talked about how initially she felt that she was doing the right thing – being a good parent – by contacting children's services and the police, although this clearly wasn't easy. And then the pain and frustration when it was her parenting that became the focus of workers’ attention and not the harm Jack was experiencing.

In this chapter, I explore some initial findings on the role of parents when their child is at risk of EFH. Using the data captured through testing CS, I will outline some of the ways parents and parenting were discussed in cases and some initial findings about what happens when safeguarding systems attempt to shift the focus from parents to contexts where their child experiences harm outside the family. Parents play a pivotal role in protecting children from harm. I argue that social care has the opportunity to change systems and practices to prevent the stigmatisation of parents and bring parents in as partners. I begin by drawing upon the literature base which supports collaborative working with parents before moving on to consider the challenges presented by the current policy and practice framework when children experience EFH, drawing on research from the Scale-Up Project.