Key takeaway

Seeing or hearing the child is not enough. Safeguarding depends on truly understanding their day-to-day lived experience and then acting on that understanding. 

Why this matters

Children can be seen regularly by professionals without their day-to-day experiences being fully understood. Reviews repeatedly show that when practitioners do not understand what daily life is actually like for a child, important signs of harm, vulnerability and unmet need can be missed.  

Understanding a child’s lived experience is not simply about recording what children say. It involves considering what life feels like from their perspective and how that influences their needs, strengths, vulnerabilities and experiences of harm. Children’s experiences are shaped by many factors that may not be immediately visible, including disability, mental health, family dynamics, friendships, relationships, identity and life transitions. Practitioners need to consider how these factors shape a child’s day-to-day life and engagement with services, and what this means for the response they receive.

A better understanding of children’s lived experiences supports stronger assessment, more informed decision-making and more effective safeguarding responses. 

What this looks like in practice

Professionals can have regular contact with a child without fully understanding what life is like for them day to day. Information about home life, relationships, responsibilities, routines and wellbeing may be gathered across different services, but not always brought together into a clear understanding of the child’s experiences. 

Reviews also show that adult needs, family circumstances, professional processes or presenting concerns can sometimes become the focus of attention. As a result, important aspects of a child’s experiences may remain unseen and opportunities to recognise harm, vulnerability or unmet need can be missed. 

Children’s experiences can also be obscured by adult narratives, professional assumptions or a focus on outward presentation. Some children appear settled, resilient or coping well despite managing significant adversity, caring responsibilities or emotional distress. Understanding a child’s lived experience therefore requires curiosity, persistence and ongoing exploration of what daily life is actually like for that child. 

Reviews also remind us that children’s experiences of relationships, exploitation, abuse and care may be very different from the language used by adults to describe them.

What practitioners and managers can do 

• Make seeing, hearing and understanding the child central to all safeguarding activity. Speak with children alone wherever possible and adapt your approach to their age, communication needs and level of understanding.  

• Keep asking yourself: What is life like for this child day to day? Create meaningful opportunities for children to share their experiences and participate in decisions that affect them.  

• Pay attention to the child’s world around them. Notice who receives most of the attention, what responsibilities the child may be carrying, and what their behaviour, presentation, non-verbal communication or silence might tell you about their experiences.

• Build a fuller picture through multiple sources of information, repeated visits and professional curiosity. Seek to bring information together across agencies so that concerns can be understood in the wider context of the child’s life.  

• Be alert to aspects of the child’s identity and experience that may be less visible, including culture, disability, mental health, discrimination, relationships and online experiences.  

• Be mindful that children who appear settled, resilient or coping well may nevertheless be experiencing significant harm, neglect or emotional distress.  

• Use supervision to keep bringing conversations back to the child. Ask what life is actually like for the child, support reflective discussion where the answer is unclear, and seek advice, specialist expertise or guidance where needed to better understand the child’s lived experience.