Risk in Child Protection

A clear and accessible guide to understanding and assessing risk in child protection work

In this accessible guide to assessing risk in child protection, Martin C. Calder outlines the relevant policy, introduces debates about what risk means, identifies the key challenges for practice, summarises the evidence base for effective assessment and provides a helpful framework for frontline workers.

Assessing risk is a key challenge in child protection work. Martin C. Calder presents a clear and accessible guide to understanding risk and the part it plays.

This book considers what risk means and how risk assessments should be defined, it outlines the key challenges practitioners face day-to-day, and offers a helpful evidence-based assessment framework for use by frontline staff. Calder argues that risk now has to be reconceived as a multi-disciplinary activity which stretches beyond social work. As such, he highlights a need for a clearer shared terminology among professionals and encourages the social work profession to look to related disciplines, such as criminal justice, for ideas to improve practice.

Demystifying the complex debates around risk and showing how to deliver effective risk assessment, this is an essential reference for social workers and social work students, as well as lecturers.