The importance of touch in protecting children
Learning objectives
Having read this resource you should have a better understanding of the role of touch in child protection practice, as well as the debates around it both historical and contemporary.
The importance of touch in protecting children
Relating to children in social work and child protection is always nonverbal as well as verbal. The younger the child, the less scope there is to conduct discussion-based interviews and the more the child or infant must be heard to speak, as it were, through their body. On top of gathering the parents’/carers’ views of the child, communication must go on through observation of the child and touch.
In this chapter, taken from his best-selling book Child Protection Practice, Harry Ferguson explores the role of touch in working with children, how it's become deeply problematic, and argues for its importance.
Reflective Questions
1. In a group, or on your own, consider the difficulties the role of touch in child protection can present, and also the benefits it can produce.
2. How would you summarise the difference between what Ferguson terms medical examination and 'professional touch’?
3. How would a public health emergency, such as the coronavirus pandemic, affect your use of touch when assessing young children?