Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racist Practice
Durham Safeguarding Children Partnership recognise the impact racism has on our communities and understand the trauma it can cause. It is our responsibility to create safe, inclusive and supporting environments and challenge racism when we see it. Durham Safeguarding Children Partnership stands in solidarity with our partners agencies in being committed to tackling institutional and interpersonal racism in all its forms. We will achieve this by listening, monitoring and continually evaluating our practice because we recognise that good anti-racist practice from us all leads to better outcomes for our children in Durham.
Racism does not constitute a separate category of abuse, although it can be a source of significant harm and can be an aggravating factor in other incidents of abuse.
Children and their families from black and minority ethnic groups are more likely to have experienced harassment, racial discrimination and institutional racism and are disproportionately over- represented in the child protection system.
Racism includes stereotyping individuals or groups, because of their difference, bigoted assumptions about abilities, motives and intentions and stigmatising individuals or groups because of their ethnicity.
Anti Racist Practice:
Anti-racist practice seeks to identify where people are discriminated against because of race or membership of global majority communities, and to take active steps to address the systems, privileges and everyday practices that maintain this unequal treatment, whether they be intentional or unintentional. To combat this, we have an expectation that every member of our service takes responsibility for their own learning and development with respect to anti-racist practice. We also expect that all our staff will join us in creating a culture of critically reflective practice as facilitated by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Anti Racist Practice Lead in Durham Children's Services.
Anti-racism is a process of actively identifying and opposing racism. The goal of anti-racism is to challenge racism and actively change the policies, behaviours and beliefs that perpetuate racist ideas and actions. We understand that race has always been present within our work, however, we need to get better at discussing these matters. We acknowledge that, for some, this might result in discomfort, however we are aware that growth takes place outside of our comfort zones, as we are beginning to question our own beliefs and assumptions about ethnicities and cultures.
The experience of racism is likely to affect how the child and family respond to and feel able to participate in the assessment and enquiry processes. Failure by professionals, workers and managers to consider the effects of racism undermines efforts to protect children from other forms of Significant Harm.
Children who have been trafficked or unaccompanied asylum seekers are particularly vulnerable.
Working with different minority cultures in the context of a child protection investigation may be an unfamiliar experience for practitioners and specific advice about the cultural needs of a child may be difficult to obtain at short notice. There is a difficult balance to be struck between how to maintain respectful and culturally sensitive practice with a child-centred focus.
1. What it means for practitioners
Our practitioners will participate in opportunities through reflective group supervisions to talk and think about their own and each other's anti racist practice.
We believe that, in creating an anti-racist workplace, we will all experience moments of vulnerability, both for those speaking up about hurt personally experienced or witnessed, and for those needing to hear those statements, acknowledge them, and repair the harm racism has caused.
2. What it means for children and their families
Durham Safeguarding Children Partnership and their partner agencies encourage the strength bases relational practice model to co-ordinate our approach to working with children and families in a strengths based manner. We will adopt the principles of Signs of Safety to ensure we work in an anti racist way with children and their families. We will ask curious questions about cultural heritage and customs for children, families and individuals, and how these shape their lives experiences and the world as they see it. We will ask children and their families, in their own words, how they self-identify their culture and ethnicity.
This is because we accept that children and their families are experts in their own lives from their own experiences. We do ask children and their families whether English is their first language. If not, we always offer to provide an interpreter in a preferred language.
We understand that children and families can be negatively impacted by racism in many forms but also other nominating factors such as age, poverty, disability and social class.
It is important that we recognise this intersectionality in our practice: Definition: Intersectionality is a concept used to understand how various aspects of an individual's social and political identities-such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability-intersect and interact, creating unique and interconnected experiences of discrimination or privilege. It acknowledges that these different aspects of identity cannot be considered in isolation and that systems of oppression or privilege are interlinked, influencing an individual's experiences in complex ways. Developed by Kimberle Crenshaw, intersectionality aims to highlight and address the overlapping and compounding effects of multiple forms of discrimination or advantage.
Therefore will apply our understanding of the Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS (Gender, Geography, Race, Religion, Age, Ability, Appearance, Class, Culture, Ethnicity, Education, Employment, Sexuality, Sexual Orientation, Spirituality) to help us assist families to navigate these dynamics.
There are other models we may use to help us understand the lived experiences of children and their families better such as the ROMA model and the MANDELA model (see below).
Adultification is also a theory we should be mindful of when working with children and young people. Adultification refers to the societal perception or treatment of children, especially belonging to marginalised and racialised groups, as more mature, older, or responsible than they actually are. This often results in these children being held to higher standards of behaviour, discipline, or responsibility compared to their peers, potentially depriving them of their childhood and leading to various negative consequences, including biases in the education system or the criminal justice system.
Adultification occurs in two primary forms:
- Through the social and environmental circumstances in which a child lives;
- Through the perpetuation of stereotypes, prejudices, and racism.
(Epstein et al., 2017)
We accept that the use of professional jargon and abbreviation is disempowering for families experiencing racism, who are already disempowered by our society and systems. Therefore, usingrelational strength based practice, we are committed to using clear, straightforward language in all our communication with and about children and families to break down those barriers.
The effects of racism differ for different communities and individuals and should not be assumed to be uniform. Specific attention should be given to the assessment of the needs of children of mixed parentage and refugee children to ensure that their safety and wellbeing is promoted.
Children who have been trafficked or unaccompanied asylum seekers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and maltreatment.
When there are concerns about a child or young person the Referrals Procedure should be followed and the need for interpreters or advisors on cultural issues should be considered as part of any strategy discussion or risk assessment. Consideration should also be given to making a referral to the Channel Panel. Where written information may also be needed in a different language this should also be considered at an early stage because there is almost always a delay in organising this. Family members or members of the same community should not be used as interpreters; in no circumstances should children be used to translate for their parents. All interpreters and translators should be DBS checked and have received some basic child protection training.
All organisations working with children and young people within the Safeguarding Children Boards' area must address institutional racism: defined in the Macpherson Inquiry Report, 2000 as
"the collective failure by an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people on account of their race, culture and /or religion."
All assessments, enquiries and meetings such as Child Protection Conferences and Core Groups must ensure that they are inclusive and respectful to all participants and address any issues of racism, culture and religion whether it concerns the child, family or any other participant.
All staff or clinical supervision and training must consider the issues not only of institutional racism but also of the effects of racism in relation to the child and his or her family.
Last Updated: May 27, 2025
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