Over recent years, developments in the way young people interact with their surroundings, including developments in technology, social media, education settings and relationships, mean that safeguarding responses have had to adapt.

Traditionally, social work focuses predominately on safeguarding young people from risks inside the family home. Child protection systems, which are primarily designed to respond to risk within families, sometimes do not do enough to fully support social workers, or the wider system, in addressing risk that may occur outside the home.