Staff profile

Biography 

I am an applied social researcher in the Contextual Safeguarding Research Programme. I explore how Contextual Safeguarding can help child protection professionals develop new approaches to understand young people’s experiences of harm and safety in their extra-familial relationships and in their communities; and to build safety with and around young people in these spaces. My research is action oriented. I draw on embedded and participatory methods to work in partnership with young people and professionals, in the UK and internationally, to create safeguarding practice and policy change.  

Current projects 

Seeking Safety (2024-2027): I am the lead researcher of this study funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation. The study explores how Contextual Safeguarding can support organisations working with young unaccompanied asylum-seekers in the UK and explores the transferability of this learning to other European settings. We will pilot Contextual Safeguarding approaches with Breaking the Chains, a partnership project developed by Shpresa Programme and the Migrant and Refugee Children’s Legal Unit (MiCLU) at Islington Law Centre. The Breaking the Chains project supports Albanian asylum-seeking young people in the UK to make asylum-claims and to engage in advocacy work. We will share and explore the transferability of learning from the pilot with a Special Interest Group of professionals in the UK and across Europe. Additionally, a scoping review will be conducted to generate new insight into the opportunities and challenges for Contextual Safeguarding where young unaccompanied asylum-seekers are at risk of, or experience, extra-familial harm, within the current UK safeguarding and immigration policy and practice landscape. Learning from the research will inform the development of a new practice toolkit for voluntary organisations and a policy briefing.  

Scaling and Supporting Readiness for Contextual Safeguarding (2024-2027): The aim of this project is to support the social work and youth work sector in its implementation of Contextual Safeguarding. Part of this involves coordinating the Contextual Safeguarding Local Area Interest Network (LAIN), which brings together over 80 Local Authority members (currently around 400 practitioners) in England, Wales and Scotland who are implementing Contextual Safeguarding. I provide strategic support to practice development, track its impact and co-produce resources with practitioners to facilitate peer learning across the sector. Additionally, I will ensure that learning from the Contextual Safeguarding Research Programme is scaled at pace across the youth work sector (voluntary and statutory delivery), and that this sector and the partnerships with whom they work are ready to engage new partners (such as those in hospitality) to create safety in public spaces where extra-familial harm occurs. 

Completed projects 

• Contextual Safeguarding Across Borders, exploring the applicability of Contextual Safeguarding in international settings with a particular focus on refugee young people in Europe and street-connected children in Tanzania funded by Porticus. 

• The ESRC funded Innovate Project, exploring how children social care and voluntary sector services are innovating to address extra-familial risks and harm. 

• Securing Safety funded by Samworth Foundation, a study into the rate, cost and impact of relocation as a response to extra-familial harm in adolescence, in collaboration with the Rees Centre, University of Oxford 

• I was an embedded researcher in the first pilot of a Contextual Safeguarding system in the London Borough of Hackney’s children services, funded by the Department for Education’s Innovation Programme. I documented learning from this process and coordinated the creation of a toolkit, coproduced with practitioners, to share resources with the sector.  

I previously worked in the Safer Young Lives Research Centre at the University of Bedfordshire on the Our Voices Project where I researched the participation of young people with lived experiences of sexual violence in advocacy, practice, and research in Europe. Before joining the Safer Young Lives Research Centre, I worked in The Children's Society Safeguarding and Quality Practice team and I also worked for the humanitarian organisation CARE France.

• Extra-familial harm in adolescence
• Forced migrations and human trafficking
• International child protection systems
• Voluntary and community sector responses

Authored book

• Safeguarding Young People Beyond the Family Home Responding to Extra-Familial Risks and Harms
  
  Firmin, C., Lefevre, M., Huegler, N., & Peace, D. (2022). Safeguarding Young People Beyond the Family Home Responding to Extra-Familial Risks and Harms. Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781447367277

Chapter in book

• Contextual Safeguarding Beyond the UK
  
  Peace, D. (2023). Contextual Safeguarding Beyond the UK. In C. Firmin & J. Lloyd (Eds.), Contextual Safeguarding: The Next Chapter (pp. 77-88). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.46692/9781447366454.007

Journal Article

• Harm, safety and belonging: exploring ‘contextual safeguarding’ with refugee youth in Europe
  
  Peace, D., Wroe, L., & Huegler, N. (2025). Harm, safety and belonging: exploring ‘contextual safeguarding’ with refugee youth in Europe. European Journal of Social Work, 28(5), 957-971. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2025.2537729
• Innovating in the Time of Covid: Adapting Services for Young People Experiencing Extra‐Familial Risks and Harms
  
  Peace, D., Goldsmith, C., & Lefevre, M. (2025). Innovating in the Time of Covid: Adapting Services for Young People Experiencing Extra‐Familial Risks and Harms. Child & Family Social Work, 30(3), 274-283. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.13163
• ‘Contextual safeguarding across borders’: learning about the ‘contextual safeguarding’ framework and youth ‘extra-familial’ harm in Germany
  
  Wroe, L. E., Huegler, N., & Peace, D. (2025). ‘Contextual safeguarding across borders’: learning about the ‘contextual safeguarding’ framework and youth ‘extra-familial’ harm in Germany. European Journal of Social Work. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2025.2505233
• ‘Relocating Adolescents’: The Costs of Out-of-Area Placements as a Response to Extra-Familial Risk/Harm
  
  Holmes, L., Pinto, V. S., Wroe, L. E., Peace, D., & Firmin, C. (2024). ‘Relocating Adolescents’: The Costs of Out-of-Area Placements as a Response to Extra-Familial Risk/Harm. The British Journal of Social Work, 54(8), 3658-3678. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcae109
• ‘Relocating’ Adolescents from Risk beyond the Home: What Do We Learn When We Ask about Safety?
  
  Wroe, L. E., Peace, D., & Firmin, C. (2023). ‘Relocating’ Adolescents from Risk beyond the Home: What Do We Learn When We Ask about Safety? The British Journal of Social Work, 53(5), Article bcad077. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcad077
• Relationship‐based practice and contextual safeguarding: Approaches to working with young people experiencing extra‐familial risk and harm
  
  Lloyd, J., Hickle, K., Owens, R., & Peace, D. (2023). Relationship‐based practice and contextual safeguarding: Approaches to working with young people experiencing extra‐familial risk and harm. Children & Society, 38(4), 1113-1129. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12787
• ‘It's like a much deeper understanding and you kind of believe them more …’ : The value of peer support for young people affected by sexual violence
  
  Cody, C., Bovarnick, S., & Peace, D. (2023). ‘It’s like a much deeper understanding and you kind of believe them more …’ : The value of peer support for young people affected by sexual violence. Child Abuse Review, 32(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2789
• Serious Case Reviews and Extra-Familial Harm: Missed and Emerging Opportunities to Develop Contextual Practices
  
  Firmin, C., Manister, M., & Peace, D. (2023). Serious Case Reviews and Extra-Familial Harm: Missed and Emerging Opportunities to Develop Contextual Practices. The British Journal of Social Work, 53(2), 1077-1098. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac172
• ‘Keeping the informal safe’: Strategies for developing peer support initiatives for young people who have experienced sexual violence
  
  Cody, C., Bovarnick, S., Peace, D., & Warrington, C. (2022). ‘Keeping the informal safe’: Strategies for developing peer support initiatives for young people who have experienced sexual violence. Children & Society, 36(5), 1043-1063. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12555

Report

• Contextual Safeguarding Across Borders: testing the applicability and feasibility of ‘Contextual Safeguarding’ as an approach to safeguarding adolescents from extra-familial harm in international settings
  
  Peace, D., & Wroe, L. (2022). Contextual Safeguarding Across Borders: testing the applicability and feasibility of ‘Contextual Safeguarding’ as an approach to safeguarding adolescents from extra-familial harm in international settings. Porticus.
• Being Heard: promoting children and young people’s involvement in participatory research on sexual violence. Findings from an international scoping review.
  
  Bovarnick, S., Peace, D., Warrington, C., & Pearce, J. (2018). Being Heard: promoting children and young people’s involvement in participatory research on sexual violence. Findings from an international scoping review. The University of Bedfordshire.