If someone works in safeguarding children or vulnerable people,
but ignores clear signs of abuse within their own family,
stays silent, minimises, or protects the abuser…
Are they truly safe to be working in safeguarding roles?
Is silence neutrality — or is it a form of harm?
From a psychology and neuroscience perspective,
what allows someone trained to recognise abuse
to rationalise it when it’s happening right under their own nose?
Psychology & Neuroscience Behind This Behaviour
1. Cognitive Dissonance
When professional identity (“I protect children”) clashes with personal reality (“this is happening in my family”), the brain experiences intense discomfort.
To reduce this:
- The brain denies or minimises the abuse
- Reframes it as “misunderstanding,” “stress,” or “not that bad”
This is not ignorance — it’s psychological self-protection.
2. Amygdala Override: Fear Beats Ethics
When abuse implicates:
- A partner
- A child
- A sibling
- Family reputation
The amygdala (threat/fear centre) overrides the prefrontal cortex (ethics, reasoning, safeguarding duty).
Fear of:
- Family collapse
- Social exposure
- Legal consequences
- Loss of status
➡️ The nervous system chooses self-preservation over safeguarding.
3. In-Group Bias (Neuroscience of Loyalty)
The brain is wired to protect “our own.”
MRI studies show:
- Greater empathy for in-group members
- Reduced moral judgement toward them
- Increased justification of harmful behaviour
This creates a dangerous split:
Abuse is unacceptable — unless it threatens us.
4. Moral Licensing
Professionals may unconsciously think:
- “I help others every day”
- “I’ve done good”
- “This cancels out what I’m seeing”
The brain uses past moral behaviour as a licence to look away now.
5. Why Silence Is Not Neutral
From a safeguarding standpoint, silence:
- Reinforces the abuser’s power
- Invalidates the victim’s reality
- Teaches children that harm is survivable but truth is not allowed
Neurologically, this causes:
- Long-term trauma encoding
- Altered stress responses
- Attachment injury
The Hard Truth
Safeguarding is not a job — it is a value system under pressure.
If someone cannot act when safeguarding costs them personally,
the question isn’t “are they trained?”
but “are they safe?”
