Chloe Banks is Child Protection Manager at a non-profit in Asia, piloting a new Family Strengthening program, to build safe community around young mothers who find themselves isolated at the start of their parenting journey.
You’ve been working in the field of child protection for some time. What prompted you to think about studying a Master’s degree in Child Protection?
I was prompted to think about upgrading my learning somehow – but I wasn’t sure in what way. I had completed a Master’s in International Development around 10 years before, but it had been quite theoretical, and I was looking for a program that combine theory and practice, whilst still having an open scope where I could continue to see from a variety of perspectives. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for until I came across the MA in Advanced Child Protection at the Centre for Child Protection at Kent.
Can you tell us how you came to the decision to study an MA in Advanced Child Protection at the Centre for Child Protection at the University of Kent?
I attended a talk from Professor Jane Reeves, Emeritus Professor and former Co-Director at the Centre for Child Protection, who gave a lecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She shared about the significant effort being made by the Centre for Child Protection to look into fields beyond the traditional child protection space to see what ideas could be brought into child protection practice. I was interested in this concept, particularly the innovative work to bring elements of gaming into child protection practice. I was also interested in the multidisciplinary nature of the course, knowing that I would be learning alongside classmates from different fields with varied experiences.
Looking back, did your course live up to your expectations?
It was more challenging than I expected! I really had to push myself academically, as well as manage my time well with doing the Master’s alongside a full-time job in child protection and family life. However it was immediately apparent that I was able to feed my learnings into my work, my work informed my studies, and it became a learning loop that was highly beneficial to both. As well as my own area of expertise – global care reform and child protection, I was also able to learn about many other topics and subjects that I would not have considered, mostly from a UK but also an international perspective.
What were some of the highlights of the course for you?
Although our class were spread across the UK and the world, we built a close community via WhatsApp. As well as talking (and commiserating!) about our studies, we’d ask one another questions about child protection outside of our own fields, and those with a different area of expertise would share their experiences. Our classmates are from sectors including non-profit management, education, healthcare, emergency services, and international development, with each person having a unique perspective on child protection.
In addition, COVID-19 hit at the beginning of our second year, starting with those of us in Asia and spreading across the world throughout the semester. Suddenly we were all thrown into new challenges we had never come across before in child protection. Being able to share how we were doing both professionally and personally, and walking together through the crisis was difficult, but we were able to support one another in ways we couldn’t have expected.
In what ways has completing this course made a difference to you and your career?
Personally, I felt a great sense of accomplishment at completing a MA in less than two years amidst a full-time child protection job, young children, and in 2020! While it may not be a sustainable long-term lifestyle to do all of that at the same time, it was a good reminder to me that there can be seasons to stretch yourself and find out what you are capable of.
Since completing the course, I moved to an oversight child protection role at my organisation and took a role to launch a new Family Strengthening program, specifically bringing in my research from my dissertation on deinstitutionalisation and family strengthening in child protection.
What does a typical day in your current role look like for you?
The past year has been spent launching a brand new program – it’s required all of my different skills and experiences in child protection, program development, fundraising and communications, as well as building mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation to make sure we are actually positively impacting our target group in the short and long-term. I oversee our agency child protection, training our teams and ensuring our policies and practices all point towards minimising the risk of abuse and responding with sensitivity and efficiency when concerns are raised. As well as the many challenging situations we see, I also get to witness the changed life stories when children are able to go home with safe families, surrounded by caring community support.
Is there anything you learnt during your MA studies that has changed the way you do things in your day-to-day working life?
I’ve built stronger muscle when it comes to research and thinking about theory – I ask more questions, find different research studies, and consider different theoretical frameworks. Seeing what others have learned before trying something is very important, and there is so much expertise to build on.
You wrote a dissertation on ‘Can Institutional Care Play a Role in a Child Protection System, and Where Should it be Eliminated, Transformed or Improved?’ as part of your studies – can you tell us what that experience was like for you?
I had been working in the care reform sector for more than ten years before starting the Master’s degree, and researching and writing my dissertation gave me a chance to pause, look at the underlying structural issues and the overarching narratives in the field and consider the work I do with a more critical lens and depth of focus. Some research confirmed what I had seen and experienced, and some research provided new insight, which was very interesting.
Have your studies at Kent prompted you to think differently about your career? How do you see your career progressing?
The role I stepped into at my organisation after completing my Master’s is a new role to launch and manage a pilot Family Strengthening programme, and I have had the opportunity to pioneer and shape it, bringing in my experiences and building a strong foundation from which to move forwards, especially when it comes to child safeguarding.
I think that ongoing study has given me both confidence to move forwards in putting learning into practice, but also humility as I realise how much I still have to learn! There were so many interesting tangents and pieces of research that I wanted to pursue during my Master’s but I had to stay focused. Now that I’ve finished I have a list of topics that I hope to continue learning about.
What advice do you have for colleagues working in the field of child protection who might be considering a Master’s degree? Would you recommend the course with CCP at Kent?
If you are interested in considering a Master’s degree then I’d certainly recommend a “stand-alone module” from the Centre for Child Protection at Kent first to get a feel for the style of teaching and learning, and from there decide if it’s something you want to pursue. My first module was a shock to the system as I re-learned how to study, but it gave me the insight I needed to know that this Master’s was something I wanted to pursue in order to grow my depth of knowledge in child protection. There are many ways that we can work together to be a society that deeply values and cares for children, and this is one way to do it. I’m very grateful for the support and encouragement I had from my family and workplace to have this opportunity.
Learn more about studying an MA in Advanced Child Protection at Kent’s Centre for Child Protection:
- This distance learning programme, which runs on a part-time basis for two or more years, is for experienced professionals
- The programme is fully accredited by the University of Kent and delivered by experts at the Centre for Child Protection
- The programme gives a 360-degree perspective on child protection, introducing you to the viewpoints of academics, practitioners, organisations, parents, children and young people, integrated with contemporary research theory and policy
- The impact that technology has on protecting children, as well as the effect of the globalisation of the abuse and exploitation of vulnerable children, is considered throughout
- Apply now to begin your studies in January 2023