My Whole World: Integrating the Digital into Social Work Assessments with Children and Young People

Most children and young people now live a significant proportion of their lives online, a situation that has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic which required many services, including education, to go online. Social media apps, messaging apps, online gaming, and chatrooms provide new and important spaces for children and young people to connect to others, have fun and learn. Equally, children and young people also have upsetting and harmful experiences online, with research raising particular concerns about the number of young people accessing distressing images and/or pornographic material online, and experiencing bullying and sexual exploitation online. Despite this complex picture of online risk and opportunity, little guidance exists for social work practitioners about how to incorporate the digital world into a holistic assessment of children’s needs and strengths. This article begins to address this gap by exploring the key elements of assessing a child’s digital world, bringing in learning from guidance available in England, current research and good practice in terms of assessment. The discussion is focused around three domains: how the child or young person is growing and developing; what the child or young person needs from the people who look after them, and the impact of the child or young person’s wider world or family, friends and community. Each of these domains are considered in turn, with suggestions given about how the digital world might be incorporated into this ‘triangle’ of domains and how current research might help practitioners to think about what they need to find out and why.