Transitional Safeguarding

Aimed at all those committed to ensuring high quality social work with young adults, the below report explains what transitional safeguarding is, why it is needed and how the contribution of adult social work is key to developing and embedding a more transitional approach to safeguarding young people into adulthood.

This 20 minute video explores how to support young people to transition to adulthood, and safeguard them from harm:

This paper highlights how harms do not stop at 18 years of age, and how Transitional Safeguarding connects to the criminal justice system:

The charities Missing People and NWG Network are collaborating, alongside the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC), to better understand what happens for children and young people who are regularly going missing as they transition to adulthood. We know going missing can be a warning sign of serious harms including exploitation, mental health issues and abuse. We also know that Looked After Children are reported missing significantly more than others, and that some will go missing repeatedly. Turning 18 doesn’t necessarily change the challenges or harms that young people are experiencing, however, sometimes it can be a cliff-edge in terms of the help available. The response for missing adults is quite different than that for children: police actions are more limited, less support is in place, and young adults may be in contact with different services than they were as children.