Child neglect is the most common reason for taking child protection action in Wales. Neglect is widely recognised as a chronic and pervasive public health issue and considered the most complex form of maltreatment, rarely based upon a specific incident and has a myriad of causes. This makes providing the appropriate type and level of support to a child, a significant challenge for practice. With ever increasing burdens on the child protection system, social services are tasked with performing as an emergency service and provision is being progressively stretched. Intervening at the earliest opportunity not only serves to minimise the long-term and dangerous effects of neglect on children, but saves the cost of reactive services to the public purse. Staff within schools hold particular advantage in recognising neglect in its early stages. School staff possess long-standing relationships with children and are able to observe a child’s interactions with their parent or carer(s), and their peers, five days a week, over an extended period of time and in a range of settings.

This workshop will identify challenges which exist for schools when recognising and responding to child neglect. It will present key findings from a recent Health and Care Research Wales (Welsh Government) funded study which investigated how schools responded to the issue in their daily roles. The study analysed data from across three levels of service intervention, from the early identification of neglect, the implementation of multi-agency support, through to the school’s level of involvement in the child protection process. Findings from the mixed-methods study contributes new understanding to this topic and highlights the complexity of supporting children living with neglect. The workshop will make recommendations for practice and future policy in schools, inter-professional working with statutory services, and provide opportunity for discussion on the implications for school-based service provision.