The Evolving Responsibilities of DSLs : What's Changed and What Remains Essential
Dear Safeguarding Leader,
Welcome to the next edition of our weekly newsletter designed specifically for you, the Designated Safeguarding Lead who carries one of the most critical responsibilities in child protection.
If you've been in this role for any length of time, you'll know that the landscape of safeguarding never stands still. The threats children face evolve, guidance updates, thresholds shift, and expectations of DSLs continue to grow. As we move through 2025, it's worth pausing to consider what has fundamentally changed about your role – and what remains at its absolute core.
What's Changed
The complexity of your role has undeniably increased. Digital safeguarding concerns that barely existed a decade ago now dominate much of our work. From AI-generated images to new social platforms emerging faster than we can monitor them, keeping children safe online requires constant vigilance and learning.
The mental health crisis among young people has intensified, blurring the lines between wellbeing support and safeguarding intervention. You're expected to understand trauma-informed practice, recognise the signs of self-harm and suicidal ideation, and navigate increasingly long waiting lists for external specialist support.
Contextual safeguarding has fundamentally shifted how we think about risk. It's no longer enough to assess what's happening within a child's home – you must understand the neighbourhoods they move through, the peer groups they belong to, and their online spaces.
The administrative burden has grown exponentially. Record-keeping requirements are more stringent, multi-agency meetings increase, and the expectation for detailed chronologies and evidence-based referrals means your workload has expanded far beyond what many organisations initially anticipated when they created the DSL role.
What Remains Essential
Yet underneath all this change, the core of your work remains unchanged: you are there to ensure children are seen, heard, and kept safe from risk and harm.
Your ability to build trusting relationships still matters more than any policy document. When a child chooses to disclose abuse to someone in your setting, it's not because they've read your safeguarding procedures, it's because they identify adults that can keep them safe.
Professional curiosity remains your most powerful tool. The willingness to ask "what's really going on here?" and to dig deeper when something doesn't quite add up has saved countless children from remaining invisible in plain sight.
Your judgment – that combination of knowledge, experience, and instinct – cannot be replaced by flowcharts and decision trees. While guidance frameworks are essential, there will always be grey areas where you must weigh competing factors and make difficult calls.
And perhaps most importantly, your humanity remains central to this work. Your capacity to sit with distressing information, to respond with compassion rather than judgment, and to hold space for children facing unimaginable circumstances – this is the heart of safeguarding leadership.
The Role of Safeguarding Supervision
With all these evolving demands and enduring responsibilities, one thing has become clear: DSLs cannot – and should not – carry this burden alone. This is where quality safeguarding supervision becomes not a luxury, but an essential pillar of effective practice.
Regular supervision provides you with a confidential space to process complex cases, challenge your thinking, and gain perspective on decisions that can keep you awake at night. It's where you can explore the emotional impact of your work, develop your practice, and ensure you're maintaining the professional curiosity and sound judgment that children depend upon.
Take Action Today
As you read this, I want you to ask yourself one honest question: When did you last have meaningful safeguarding supervision?
If you can't remember, or if it's been more than a month, that's your answer. You deserve the support that allows you to be at your best for the children who need you.
This week, I'm challenging you to take one action:
Book a supervision session if you already have access to one
Speak to your line manager about establishing regular supervision if you don't
Reach out to me to explore how safeguarding supervision could support you
The role of DSL has never been more demanding, but it has also never been more vital.
You are more than a policy keeper or a compliance officer. You are a safeguarding leader, and children are safer because of you. But to sustain this essential work, you need support too.
Here's to the year ahead – and to ensuring you have the supervision and support that makes excellence sustainable.
With empowerment and support,
Kamelia
Ready to prioritise your professional development? Contact me today to discuss how my safeguarding supervision services can empower and support you in your role.
Next Week: Why supervision isn't a luxury – it's a necessity for effective safeguarding