Safeguarding, Child Protection and Abuse in Sport

Abstract

Increasing children’s participation in sport has been high on the political and academic agenda for many years. However, the prevention of child maltreatment in sport is a recent addition to global sport policy, with organisations such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and UNICEF now officially recognising that children in sport are at risk of exploitation and abuse. Following from early developments in a handful of countries such as the UK and Canada, triggered by high-profile cases of child sexual abuse in sport, concern about safeguarding children and young people in sport is now apparent on a global scale. This concern has led to the emergence of initiatives and policies aimed at safeguarding and protecting children and young people in sport. Comprising 19 newly commissioned chapters (plus a foreword, introduction and conclusion), this book is one of the first to consider safeguarding and child protection in sport from a global perspective. In many instances, chapters represent the first published account of developments in this area. The book is split into two parts. Part 1 critically analyses current child protection and safeguarding policy and practice in sport across a variety of countries to provide a picture of the context across sport globally. This represents the most comprehensive review to date of the landscape of child protection and safeguarding in sport and provides a starting point for critical international comparisons. Meanwhile, Part 2 explores a range of issues related to child protection and safeguarding in sport, including many not covered in previous texts. This section is especially relevant given that while in many instances the impetus for policy in this area arose from concerns about sexual rather than other forms of abuse (reflected in Part 1) a broader, more holistic approach to safeguarding and athlete welfare is warranted.