The CURIOUS® Framework.

The CURIOUS® Framework was developed directly from this pattern. It is a practitioner-led approach to professional curiosity, built from frontline practice rather than academic theory, and designed to be used in real time, in real casework, by people under real pressure.

October is Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, and this year I want to talk about a form of abuse that most professionals have never heard of: abuse carried out through an international treaty.

When we think about domestic abuse, we often picture what happens inside the home. But for some women, the most frightening part begins after they leave.

There's a particular kind of silence that happens on a Monday morning. A child who was at home for a police callout on Saturday night walks into the classroom, and nobody in that building knows anything happened. The teacher reads the room wrong. The child gets told off for not concentrating. Nobody connects the dots, because nobody had the information to connect.

I've spent years talking about online harm in training rooms. Sextortion, CSE, CCE, the usual vocabulary of safeguarding. I thought I had a reasonable handle on the landscape.

Then I came across 764.

When Practice Reviews or Rapid Reviews are published, the same themes often emerge: missed opportunities, assumptions, gaps in information sharing, and insufficient analysis of risk.

Adultification is one of the most persistent blind spots in safeguarding practice. This reflection explores how Black children, particularly Black girls, are denied vulnerability through biased perceptions and what safeguarding professionals can do to recognise and challenge this harm.

Teaching children about internet safety is empowering, giving them the knowledge and tools to navigate online spaces confidently. Open communication encourages trust, making them more likely to approach you with their worries or doubts. Discuss with them what cyberbullying is, privacy, and the reliability of online information emphasising critical thinking in all their digital interactions.

Safeguarding is shaped by everyday decisions, not just policies. This reflection explores the six safeguarding principles and how they apply across workplaces and community settings highlighting why safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility in practice, not just in theory.

Language is not static. It evolves as societal understanding grows. Yet shifts in language can provoke discomfort or resistance, particularly where familiar terms have been used uncritically for many years.

For example, referring to people as “cases” may feel administratively convenient, but it reduces complex lives to tasks or files. Such language subtly reinforces distance and dehumanisation.