Professional curiosity means exploring every possible indicator of abuse or neglect and trying to understand what the life of that child is like on a day to day basis – their routines, thoughts, feelings and relationships with family members. A professional may have the opportunity to identify abuse and neglect even if they come into contact with a family for an unrelated reason (definition from Greenwich Safeguarding Children Partnership)
Disguised compliance involves parents and carers appearing to co-operate with professionals in order to allay concerns and stop professional engagement (Reder et al, 1993). This can mean that social workers and other practitioners may be unaware of what is happening in a child’s life and the risks they face may be unknown to local authorities. This briefing focuses on learning from published case reviews from 2014 onwards that involve disguised compliance. (definition from NSPCC.org.uk)
Professional curiosity means exploring every possible indicator of abuse or neglect and trying to understand what the life of that child is like on a day to day basis – their routines, thoughts, feelings and relationships with family members.
Target audience: The Professional Curiosity E-learning package is free to access for those working or volunteering in Essex, Southend and Thurrock.
Course aim: Professional curiosity means exploring every possible indicator of abuse or neglect and trying to understand what the life of that child is like on a day to day basis – this course was developed to give an understanding of remaining curious whilst working with children, adults and families.
To access the course: You can access the training by registering/logging on the ESCA e-learning platform
To access the e-learning you will need to register, if it is the first time you have used the site then click on ‘create new account’.
As part of the learning taken from reviews carried out in Essex, the following links and resources may also help in your learning.
Videos/Webinars
Articles/Reading
If you are aware of any helpful resources not listed above, please feel free to email them to us at ESCB@essex.gov.uk.
N.B. Not all resources have been scrutinised in detail by ESCB and therefore we cannot guarantee quality assurance; however they do originate from reputable sources.