Abstract
As someone who teaches an undergraduate module on a Scottish social work programme, I was pleased to be asked to review this title as I saw it as a potential addition to the reading list for my module, as all too often the United Kingdom is taken to be England. The editors have assembled an impressive array of contributors from a range of backgrounds for the fifteen chapters in this book, which is very ambitious in its scope and scale. It not only seeks to address safeguarding across the lifespan, but also across the four jurisdictions of the UK. Perhaps then it is almost inevitable that depth is, to some extent, sacrificed for breadth and I found the coverage of some topics to be rather superficial. The volume divides into four sections. The introductory section lays the foundation for the book by introducing safeguarding and exploring organisational arrangements, concepts and theories. The first part proper covers safeguarding children and young people with chapters on topics including sexual exploitation and honour based violence. The next part explores safeguarding adults, with chapters on domestic violence and abuse and people with an intellectual disability. The final section looks at safeguarding ‘the older person’ (the term used), although I am not quite sure why this segregation is necessary. Older adults are affected by domestic abuse or may have intellectual disability and are covered by the same legal framework.
It is not entirely clear to me who the intended audience might be for this book. The breadth of coverage suggests to me that it might be a useful introductory text for an undergraduate programme in social work or related professions, and as such it does represent a single source for the reader to begin to explore. However, as seems to be required for modern textbooks, the text is punctuated with, for example, reflection points, case studies or activities for the reader. Whilst reflective prompts in a text book can be useful devices, I would also suggest that these are often too ambitious or not thought through sufficiently well. For example, the eight questions at the end of chapter eight cover a huge amount of ground (with an incongruous question about differentiation between fact and opinion included for good measure) and I suggest that they would be intimidating for any student, or indeed experienced practitioner. Overall, the book would have benefitted from much tighter editing. For example, acronyms are often used without explanation and chapters such as chapter three which claim to be about UK legislation end up referring entirely to English legislation. I would also suggest that some of the references to Scottish legislation are actually inaccurate. For example, the Office of the Public Guardian does not, as far as I understand, directly supervise a person lacking capacity (not the incapable person as is used in the book).
The book does, however, have its merits. It recognises the different contexts for safeguarding and divergence across the UK, which is welcome. It is generally written in an accessible style and covers topics that are perhaps under-explored in the introductory literature, such as honour-based violence and sexual exploitation. For example, the chapter exploring safeguarding children and young people from online danger synthesises a lot of useful information very succinctly. It also presents a useful signposting to further information. There are substantial amounts of recommendations for further reading (including in the electronic version direct links to a range of resources) and students across a range of disciplines may well find it as a useful introductory text and departure point for broader exploration of safeguarding issues.