This book captures what we have learned about Transitional Safeguarding over the past six years. We began with the voices of young people – it is their experiences that lie at the heart of this book. All young people need support moving into adulthood and this can include support to be safe. There remain significant gaps in safeguarding services for too many young people; this is something we have known about for some time, and so many of the ideas behind Transitional Safeguarding are not new. Over the past 25 years efforts have been made to address some of the issues that young people face. However helpful these changes have been in addressing specific issues, the evidence shows that making fragmented changes to various parts of the system does not achieve what is needed. Young people tell us this; colleagues tell us this. What is new is our argument that nothing short of whole systems change will do.

We cannot wait for the revolution – and evolution is slower still. We need to think about the ways in which change is possible now and in-so-doing, build on small steps as well as tackle some of the big issues. However, there is no silver bullet here. Whole systems change can mean a great many things. The key to this is clarity about how the small steps contribute to the systems change and understanding how efforts across different services or disciplines fit together to achieve the broader vision of a Transitional Safeguarding approach.

Various systems and structures govern and influence this work; at a macro level we have explored in the book some of the differences and similarities in existing legal and policy drivers in children's and adults’ safeguarding that contribute to (but are not solely responsible for) gaps in safeguarding practices with young people. We have taken time in the book to explore the legal and social policy contexts in which we work in England in Chapters 3, 5, and 6. While challenging to navigate, the legal frameworks do not prohibit Transitional Safeguarding.