Adults and reporting

Adults also face difficulties in reporting safeguarding concerns about others. There are many reasons for this. 
Like children, adults may have fears such as:

• Fear that there will be negative consequences for them (e.g. loss of job or not picked for the team).
• Fear that they will get a colleague into trouble.
• Fear that they will not be believed.

Fear keeps people silent, and silence allows harm to continue. Adults may also fail to report concerns when they think it is someone else’s responsibility. 

But as we know, safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and everyone should be supported to take action that is right. You can play an important role and so you must speak up if you have a concern. 

What is ‘poor practice’?

People often talk about ‘less serious’ safeguarding concerns as ‘poor practice’. Poor practice is when people work in a way that falls short of expected standards as set out in a code of conduct. 

The relationship between poor practice and abuse is an important one to understand.

The next section will help you think more about this.