Most children and young people are able to develop and progress into adult life with the support of universal services, such as health and education, community-based organisations, and the care and support of their family, friends and community.
It is not always obvious when a child or young person has unmet needs, and if they have, what the causes might be, the level of risk to which they may be exposed, or the degree to which resilience can be developed.
In some circumstances children and young people with similar problems might respond in different ways depending on their own coping skills or the support they get. This can also reflect the impact of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, ability and sexuality.
Resilience concerns the ability to bounce back it involves doing well against the odds, coping and recovering (Rutter, 1985, Stein, 2005). Discussions around resilience are typically framed with reference to risk, vulnerability and protective factors. Newman (2004) defines these as follows,
Risk: any factor or combination of factors that increase the chances of an undesirable outcome affecting a person.
Vulnerability: a feature that renders a person more susceptible to a threat.
Protective factors: circumstances that moderate the effect of risk.
Resilience: positive adaptation in the face of severe adversities.
Risk as a general concept is familiar to all practitioners. However the focus of risk is different within different areas of practice in children’s services. For example, education services may focus on the risk of poor attendance or underachievement. But health may focus on the risk of obesity or emotional problems.
An aspect of risk which all practitioners must consider is the risk of significant harm.
There are typical factors that can contribute to an increase in risk or resilience. Individual, parenting and environment can all affect a child or young person reaching their potential and achieving the five outcomes.
Practitioners should be aware that some children and young people, because of their individual, family or environmental circumstances, are additionally vulnerable to poor outcomes. However, caution is needed to avoid making any assumptions about an individual child or family based on a small number of key indicators. Developing positive relationships and carrying out structured assessments are necessary when identifying levels of need and making sure effective service is delivered.