Protocol for a feasibility and pilot study of the implementation and impact of specialist multi-agency teams supporting children and young people at risk of, or experiencing, violence or criminal exploitation outside the home

McQuire, C, Sumnall, H ORCID: 0000-0002-7841-9245, Harris, J ORCID: 0000-0001-6584-1642, de Vocht, F, Butler, N ORCID: 0000-0002-4938-7870 and Quigg, Z ORCID: 0000-0002-7212-5852 (2025) Protocol for a feasibility and pilot study of the implementation and impact of specialist multi-agency teams supporting children and young people at risk of, or experiencing, violence or criminal exploitation outside the home. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 11 (1). pp. 1-12. ISSN 2055-5784

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Abstract

Background
Across the United Kingdom (UK), there are increasing calls for the implementation of multi-agency approaches to addressing violence or criminal exploitation outside the home (i.e. extra-familial harm) that address the needs of the child/young person (and their families) and the neighbourhood context in which harms occur. However, to date, there is very little evidence on what an effective multi-agency approach to supporting children and young people, and their families, looks like, or the services they should provide. This article presents the protocol for a feasibility and pilot study of a specialist multi-agency team embedded in neighbourhoods to support children and young people, and their families, who are at risk of, or experiencing, violence or criminal exploitation outside the home.

Methods
A mixed-methods feasibility and pilot study will examine implementation across five UK sites. Pre- and post-outcome measures will be collected from ~1000 children/young people receiving targeted support (~200 per site). Interviews will be undertaken with children and young people, parents/carers, and stakeholders to examine views and experiences of programme implementation and outcomes/impacts, and as relevant evaluation design and outcome measurements. The extent to which findings from the feasibility and pilot study support progression to a full impact study will be reviewed. If a randomised controlled trial (RCT) is not feasible, we will explore a quasi-experimental (natural experiment) evaluation design, using the ‘Target Trial Framework’ to make explicit where a future evaluation will align with, and where it deviates, from the ideal target trial (RCT).

Discussion
This study will provide an important and timely contribution to the emerging, but limited, evidence base surrounding the implementation of place-based multi-agency interventions to support children, young people, and their families at risk of extra-familial harm. This work has direct implications for informing UK policy and practice in the wake of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care (2022), which called for a ‘whole system reset’ including an improved, multi-disciplinary ‘revolution in Family Help’ to improve outcomes for children and young people, and their families.

Protocol registration
The full study plan is available here: https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/REVIEWED-YEF-AC2-Feasibility-Pilot-Study-Plan-FINAL-July-2024.pdf and via the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/s9bux/.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	4203 Health services and systems
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV697 Protection, assistance and relief
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019) Public and Allied Health
Publisher:	BMC
Date of acceptance:	29 October 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	25 November 2025
Date Deposited:	25 Nov 2025 16:17
Last Modified:	25 Nov 2025 16:17
DOI or ID number:	10.1186/s40814-025-01736-z
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27622

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