Guardians of the Community: Contextual Safeguarding, Communities and Care

Explore research around contextual safeguarding through a ‘pop-up’ exhibition in the community of Seacroft in Leeds. Our exhibition invites visitors to look at a series of posters, co-created with parents, practitioners and researchers, and consider the role they play in supporting young people and keeping them safe.

Our ‘pop-up’ exhibition explores principles of Contextual Safeguarding which is an approach that recognises that young people's safety and wellbeing are shaped not only by families, but also by the wider social environments where they spend their time. Libraries, parks, faith groups, community centres and neighbourhood organisations all have the potential to contribute to young people's sense of belonging, safety and wellbeing. When there are worries about a young person, social workers and other professionals often ask whether parents have the ‘capacity’ to keep them safe. At the Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding we work hard to understand the contexts that create risk, harm and safety - which our parent co-researchers call looking at ‘the bigger picture’. Looking at ‘the bigger picture’ helps us to see the vital role that communities play in creating safety through their care for young people, including those who are getting into difficulties. In contextual safeguarding, we think of this as ‘community guardianship’.

Our ‘pop-up’ exhibition invites visitors in community spaces to learn about principles of contextual safeguarding and encourages everyone to see themselves as community guardians.

This event is led by our research collaborative working on the research project ‘From Capacity to Context’ in the Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding at Durham University. This includes Dr Lynne Cairns (Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding,

Durham University), Joanne Ross (The Safe Project, Leeds), Dr Sarah Hall (Ivison Trust) and four incredible parent co-researchers.

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Our exhibition will be popping up between 28th October – 6th November 2026

in:

Seacroft Community Library and Hub, Deacon House, 1 Seacroft Avenue, Leeds LS14 6JD