UK Social Work Practice in Safeguarding Disabled Children and Young People: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Disabled children have an increased risk of experiencing abuse, but we know that this group do not always receive the best child protection service. Often their abuse goes unnoticed and/or support is not put in place to better protect them, or help them to recover from abuse.

This study aimed to synthesize existing qualitative UK evidence on the known safeguarding risks and poorer outcomes for disabled children and young people who are at risk of, or who have experienced abuse. This study focused on research, which had sought the views of disabled children and young people, parents/carers and practitioners.

The authors used a systematic approach to search for all research, which has been undertaken since 2000 in the UK. They found 14 articles/reports from across 10 unique studies. All but one of the studies were published within the last six years. They found 197 qualitative findings from across these studies, and when combined they formed 12 synthesized findings to answer four research questions.