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Building a community of safeguarders: a literature review on the role of the public in identifying and stopping child maltreatment

Publication date February 2023

Members of the public have an important role to play in identifying and responding to child maltreatment. In their daily lives, they have opportunities to notice signs of risk that are not visible in professionals’ contact with children and families. 1

To find out what makes some members of the public take action when worried about a child, and why others fail to act on their concerns, we conducted a literature review. A total of 47 sources were included, with representation from a range of countries. We looked at:

  • how confident members of the public are in recognising signs of maltreatment
  • how much significance members of the public place on the signs of maltreatment
  • the extent to which members of the public feel a duty to act on their concerns about children
  • the extent to which members of the public know what they could do to help a child, and factors that influence if and how action is taken.

Our literature review has informed the NSPCC Listen up, Speak up campaign, ensuring that everyone plays their part to prevent child abuse and neglect. 

Authors: Deborah Radcliffe, Emma Smith and Susan Cooke
Published: 2023

References

Giovannoni, J.M. (1995) Reports of child maltreatment from mandated and non-mandated reporters. Children and Youth Services Review 17(4): 487-501 Cited in: Spilsbury, J.C. et al (2022) “A rising tide floats all boats”: the role of neighborhood collective efficacy in responding to child maltreatment. Child Abuse and Neglect, 124: 105461.
Building a community of safeguarders: what encourages the general public to act on their concerns about a child and what prevents them from acting?
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Key findings

The majority of the public say they would report concerns, however, faced with a real-life situation, people are more likely to provide informal support

Identifying abuse

People in the UK appear to have a basic understanding of neglect and feel confident about their ability to identify concerns.

However, some forms of maltreatment, such as sexual abuse and neglect, are less well-understood than others.

Reporting

The majority of public, who responded to UK or international surveys, indicated that they would report any concerns about child maltreatment to police or social services.

Members of the public (based on international studies) seemed more likely to report concerns that they feel are more significant, serious or abusive.

Informal support

When faced with conerns in a real-life situation people were more likely to say that they offered informal support rather than reported their concerns to police or social services.

Key barriers

Key barriers preventing people from reporting concerns to police or social services included:

  • people feeling that doing so is unlikely to help the child
  • feeling unsure
  • having negative attitudes towards statutory authorities
  • fear of repercussions.

Citation

Please cite as: Radcliffe, D., Smith, E. and Cooke, S. (2023) Building 'a community of safeguarders': what encourages the general public to act on their concerns about a child and what prevents them from acting? London: NSPCC. 

Download Building a community of safeguarders: what encourages the general public to act on their concerns about a child and what prevents them from acting?
Download report (PDF)

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