However, another side of the role is working with families where child protection and safeguarding issues are part of daily life for children. To ensure robust practice — and support practitioners — part of my role in the United Kingdom (UK) as a health visitor was to engage in safeguarding supervision, both as a supervisor and a supervisee.
Working in New Zealand as a Whānau Āwhina Plunket registered nurse (RN), I completed a masters in advanced child protection. My dissertation explored the need for practitioners to engage in safeguarding supervision, in addition to other types of supervision.
Safeguarding supervision has clear benefits for the child or children, the practitioner and, also, the organisation.
Clinical versus safeguarding supervision
Often the terminology “child protection” and “safeguarding” are used interchangeably.1 UK training body, Safeguarding Associates for Excellence (SAFE),2 offers a definition to differentiate between the two: “Safeguarding is to prevent harm; child protection is how we respond to harm”.
Safeguarding supervision supports the practitioner to reflect on their practice, in a safe space. This enables the practitioner to make robust decisions, which is integral in preventing harm.
In the field of nursing, clinical supervision has been a fundamental part of practice for more than 30 years. Clinical supervision is a formal activity that enables the individual practitioner to enhance their knowledge and skills, utilising the reflective process to support self development.3 The same could be said for safeguarding supervision, but it differs from clinical supervision as it specifically relates to the complexities of keeping children safe. A UK study4 suggests safeguarding supervision is fundamentally different from clinical supervision, as it requires expertise in the safeguarding field from the supervisor.
Another UK study5 proposes the following definition of safeguarding supervision:
“Safeguarding supervision is a facilitative process that enables the supervisor and supervisee to reflect on, scrutinise, challenge and evaluate the work undertaken. This includes assessing risk and protective factors for the child in question as well as the strengths and areas for development of the practitioner. The context should be an environment in which the supervisee receives appropriate emotional support.”
Functions of supervision
In understanding the value of safeguarding supervision it is useful to examine the function of the supervision process, which applies to both clinical and safeguarding supervision. Three functions of supervision have been described in American textbook Supervision in Social Work.6
Firstly, educational — that is practitioners are learning and enhancing their practice through the reflective supervision process. Secondly, administrative, ensuring that organisational policies are being followed and standards of practice maintained. 7 However, supervision should not be seen as a management tool. Thirdly, they highlight the supportive function for practitioners, with regard to the emotions experienced especially when dealing with complex cases.4, 8
Practitioner support
Due to the nature of the work, child/whānau nurses spend a great deal of time working alone, making solo decisions, and are often the first people to identify a child protection concern.9 Practitioners can feel anxious and overwhelmed emotionally with potential for stress and burnout when dealing with complex families. Along with Well Child/whānau nurses, other practitioners may encounter child protection concerns through their own role.
Smikle’s UK study5 looks at a broad range of health-care professionals who have access to children and young people in various healthcare settings. She suggests that safeguarding supervision should be accessible to those practitioners and provided by appropriately trained supervisors. It is clear there is a need to provide emotional support and containment of feelings to reduce the anxiety engendered by the stressful nature of the work. Safeguarding supervision, by providing support and containment can reduce feelings of stress and anxiety for the practitioner.
A study published in the UK’s Community Practitioner journal10 indicates that safeguarding supervision decreases compassion fatigue and increases compassion satisfaction, resulting in enhanced decision-making. This enables practitioners to work more effectively with complex whānau and contributes to child safety.
Organisational support
The need for practitioners to embed safeguarding supervision in their practice requires support from the organisation as well as the practitioner.11 Smikle5 highlights the lack of support for supervision generally from managers, whose focus is on clinical provision. The organisation also needs to ensure that safeguarding supervision is not just a vehicle to monitor practice in light of a risk-averse culture.10 The benefits to organisations who support practitioners to access safeguarding supervision include retaining staff, a drop in sickness rates and better outcomes for families.8
Organisations with a focus on learning and with clear policies and guidelines around supervision expectations were more likely to promote and support safeguarding supervision.11 The organisation needs to support both supervisors and supervisees by providing training and protected time.4 5 To achieve this, organisational culture needs to shift, with safeguarding supervision being seen as inherent in client care of complex whanau.
Smikle5 states:
“So supervision is given the same importance as face-to-face client contact and is viewed as normal organisational business integral to how practitioners work and children and young people are safeguarded.”
“Practitioners can feel anxious and overwhelmed emotionally with potential for stress and burnout when dealing with complex families.”
In my current role I have had support from my clinical leader to initiate safeguarding supervision to colleagues in the three teams my clinical leader manages. Prior to setting it up, I undertook two days safeguarding supervision training to update my skills.
I am lucky to have dedicated time to provide this, and I offer sessions on a one-to-one basis, usually online. I also provide safeguarding supervision to a nurse, working in another area, quite often isolated, with a caseload consisting of complex, high-need families.
Fiona Sharpe, RN, RM, BSc, MA, is a Whānau Āwhina Plunket registered nurse. She is also a qualified district nurse and specialist community public health nurse and has completed a Master of Arts in advanced child protection.
References
- Guindi, A., Hassett, A., & Callanan, M. (2019). Safeguarding Supervision: On the Frontline. Community Practitioner, 92(9), 45-47.
- Safeguarding Associates for Excellence. (2020). What is the difference between child protection and child safeguarding?
- Butterworth, T. (2022). What is clinical supervision and how can it be delivered in practice? Nursing Times, 118(2), 20-22.
- Hall, C. (2007). Health visitors’ and school nurses’ perspectives on child protection supervision. Community Practitioner, 80(10), 26-31.
- Smikle, M. (2017). Preparing supervisors to provide safeguarding supervision for healthcare staff. Nursing Management, 24(8), 34-41.
- Kadushin, K., & Harkness, D. (2014). Supervision in Social Work, (5th edition).
- Beddoe, L. (2012). External Supervision in Social Work: Power, Space, Risk and the Search for Safety. Australian Social Work. 65(2), 197-213.
- Wallbank, S., & Hatton, S. (2011). Reducing burnout and stress: the effectiveness of clinical supervision. Community Practitioner, 84(7), 31-35.
- Peckover, S., & Appleton, J. (2019). Health visiting and safeguarding children: a perfect storm? Journal of Health Visiting, 7(5), 232-238.
- Wallbank, S., & Wonnacott, J. (2015). The integrated model of restorative supervision for use within safeguarding. Community Practitioner, 88(5), 41-45.
- Ruch, G. (2007). Reflective Practice in Contemporary Child-care Social Work: The Role of Containment. British Journal of Social Work, 37(4), 659-680.