Whilst it is now commonplace, theoretically, to accept childhood as socially constructed that, changes over time and place. What intrigues me most is how the childhood that is subject to professional practice, legislation and guidance seems to have remained largely consistent over time. Even though significant and consequential changes have advanced rapidly over the last decade, there is a lack of connectivity with the role technology plays in today’s childhoodspace/s.

No one can argue that technology is not ubiquitous in most children’s daily lives, from the way in which toys are made, the use of computers in the education settings, mobile phones in the community, and the use of the internet.

Current definitions of childhood in social work practice today do not incorporate the way that children live their lives within an interface to a digital world. Childhood in this century is inherently part of a ubiquitous computing culture and surrounded by technology, with most children now interacting with some form of technological device such as a smart phone, iPad, computer. Surrounding current debates for example, include children’s overuse of mobile phones and access to information, AI and the internet, alongside the viewpoint that mobile phones are intrinsic personal devices. Surely, then, there is more than one component of evidence that there is the need for safeguarding professionals to think further in order to understand today’s childhood use of technology for child protection. Beyond the bad, beyond the traditional; and open dialogue to new possibilities.

Socially constructed childhoods can be framed in different ways dependent on culture or social welfare dialogues - however through a child protection discourse, and multi-agency responses, this should be revisited with modern pragmatism. There is a need to explore how the social welfare of childhood experiences adapts to the digital world and is not solely an ‘object of concern’ (Butler-Sloss, 1988; Parton, 1991). The digital world offers a range of opportunities in this regard: new ways to speak, convey information, listen,and hear children and young people. If young people are positioned as equal partners, enabled through technology, it is possible that children could be viewed from a new perspective, as the information entering the safeguarding discourses will come from them, rather than the circumstances surrounding them. The source of technological objects and their operation that can currently be seen within everyday childhood experiences is a valid place to begin.

This is the starting place for where significant change to safeguarding practise should take place. If the child was positioned as a social-technical agent rather thanan ‘object of concern’ we would place the role of technology as an inherent part of their lived experiences. It would update current frameworks and holistic assessments within today’s social constructions and safeguarding practices. For a Local Authority, this could mean adapting technology to allow for digital accessibility, and question what role technology plays that could position the child as a social-technical agent for change.

For the social worker it has the potential to enable the voice of the child to be heard with safeguarding processes, by reflecting and building upon the growth of children’s use of technology devices. Social technical childhood spaces for social work practices would begin at policy level - and where national frameworks and assessment guidelines guide the practitioner to work in ways that incorporates this concept from the beginning of any engagement and not an add on or a separate piece of the jigsaw.

New digital tools could be created for sharing information, and that would inevitably offer new data sets to inform responses and manage risk. I am not talking about AI, large language models for administration efficiencies; but rather digital tools co-designed with children and young people as equal partners. I call for safeguarding digital tools that build upon trusting relationships and where the technology literacy of the child has been factored into the design and assessment framework.

The current status quo suggests that child protection needs to rethink its understanding and use of technology and current safeguarding/social care case management systems; to become more child-centred in their application, and to look for new ways of incorporating technology into everyday safeguarding practice. I would suggest that this means providing information in a format that is understood by children and is truly child-centred and ensures that children can hear what is being said in their inner worlds, with confidence that their information will not be shared without their permission. Thus, creating a new safe space that enacts a new ‘meta language’, and offers conditions free of ‘noise’. Using creative technological play will hopefully give children more control,and importantly, re-centre them in the safeguarding process.

I adopt the view of multi-agency work as digitally mobile and, in doing so, understand how it needs to move to adapt to the digitally mobile childhood space of today.

Therefore, it is necessary to explore the social and technical processes to give children new access to help - via there construction of this childhood space for safeguarding systems.

Firstly, this could refer to increasing the reach of digital accessibility for children and young people either to self-refer or simply be able to share their information in a digital secure portal that feeds into the safeguarding case management systems. So rather than just recording their experiences or ‘voice’ as verbatim by typing it into the system or writing in it in their case notes. We would create safe and secure digital reporting and safeguarding pathways to empower them to share their personal information confidently and safely; to support protecting them from significant risk if harm.

Equally it could simply mean that with every contact of assessment for children in need, their digital environments are included andmade mandatory. What if all universal services and targeted provision offered child led digital accessibility for children and young people within secure digital spaces? This could authentically allow their journey to start with them and their lived experience and be truly child led in a way that is comfortable for them.

Children are now part of a childhood space that combines human and digital technologies, andI believe should be given a platform to begin the debate and convey are construction of childhood within the digital world. The question is,how would child protection agencies respond to this version of the digital childhood space? Successful socio-technical processes must be designed with - and for - those who use them as currently,in the dominant professional framing of childhood, the child or young person is positioned as an incomplete informant.

This requires the development of a new conceptual framework that for example would offer a multi-agency digital front door that embraces mobility, a presence of digitally walking shoulder-to-shoulder with the children of our communities whilst turning everyday multi-agency practice immutably mobile – technologically moving, tracing, adapting to the social-technical childhood space. This new form of mobility is grounded in anew notion of managing risk in everyday digital practices built on a child-centric model. I believe this to be cutting-edge in understanding the benefits of children using technology in a positive way.

Ultimately, the social and technical childhood become one of the same with both the child and practitioners becoming end users. Where the child’s journey is from the perspective of the service user rather than the service. Honouring the generational childhood technical space, bringing together the social and professional as one community.

Dr Sarah Carlick is an expert consultant in social caretech – children’s digital safeguarding whose work focuses on how organisationscan use tech for good, through co-design with children and young people.Contact: sarah@mesafe.co.uk