Who's protecting us? Conditional safeguarding and the implications for Black children who experience harm in and outside the home

This thesis explores how safeguarding systems in England respond to Black children experiencing harm both outside and inside the home; a reality that emerged strongly from this study. While the research was initially framed around extra-familial harm; in schools, peer networks, and communities, over half of children reported simultaneous harm within the family, challenging the binary assumptions that underpin safeguarding practice.

Grounded in Critical Race Theory, Black Feminist Epistemology, and Intersectionality, the study centres Black children’s voices as authoritative knowledge and interrogates how systemic racism, adultification, and institutional neglect shape perceptions of vulnerability and care. Through qualitative research involving semi-structured conversations with 13 Black children and 23 practitioners, the findings reveal that safeguarding for Black children is often conditional, mediated by racialised stereotypes and structural inequities rather than by need. The thesis introduces original and reconceptualised concepts such as pseudo maturity, pseudo safety, and epistemic labour to describe how Black children internalise expectations of resilience and self-reliance in the absence of protection.

Accounts expose discomfort, fear, and systemic constraints that perpetuate inequitable responses, alongside moments of resistance and advocacy that offer glimpses of change. Structured across eleven chapters, the thesis moves from historical and theoretical foundations to children’s narratives (Safety is a Privilege, Out in the Wilderness, Voices of Black Children), practitioner perspectives (It’s Bleak, It’s Messy, A Sprinkle of Hope), and a critical discussion (The Abyss), concluding with recommendations for reform. Safeguarding Black children should never be conditional, it must be consistent, courageous, and rooted in care.