Disguised Compliance: Recognition and Response for Social Workers

What is Disguised Compliance?

Disguised compliance occurs when parents or carers appear to cooperate with professionals—attending appointments, agreeing with concerns, and engaging with services—while in reality, little or no genuine change is happening. The appearance of cooperation masks continued risk to the child.

This pattern has been identified as a significant factor in many serious case reviews where children have been seriously harmed or died despite professional involvement. Learning from these reviews makes recognising disguised compliance a critical skill for social workers.

Why Does Disguised Compliance Happen?

Parents may engage in disguised compliance for various reasons:

• Fear of consequences: Fear of children being removed
• System navigation: Learning what professionals want to see/hear
• Avoiding accountability: Not acknowledging the real problems
• Manipulation: Deliberately misleading professionals
• Coercive control: One parent controlling what the other says/does
• Genuine ambivalence: Wanting to change but struggling to do so

Warning Signs

Surface-Level Engagement

• Agreeing with everything professionals say without genuine reflection
• Telling professionals what they want to hear
• Engaging with services but not doing the work between sessions
• Attending appointments but not implementing advice
• Making changes only when professionals are watching

Patterns of Behaviour

• Short-term improvements that don't last
• Changes coinciding with key meetings (conferences, reviews)
• Reverting to previous behaviour when professional scrutiny reduces
• Engaging with "easy" tasks while avoiding difficult ones
• Being harder to reach when things deteriorate

Control and Deflection

• Only one parent engaging (the other invisible or passive)
• Managing which professionals have access
• Coaching children about what to say
• Shifting focus to other issues to avoid the real concerns
• Blaming external factors for ongoing problems

Inconsistencies

• Different accounts to different professionals
• What parents say doesn't match what children say
• Home environment changes between visits
• Medical/school information contradicts parents' account

Strategies for Recognising Disguised Compliance

Focus on Outcomes, Not Activities

• Don't just record that parents attended appointments—record what changed as a result
• Look for evidence of impact on the child, not just parental engagement
• Ask: "What is different for this child today compared to three months ago?"

Triangulate Information

• Speak to all professionals involved
• Compare accounts from different sources
• Check whether what parents say matches what others observe
• Seek information from those who see the family at unexpected times

Vary Your Approach

• Visit at different times, including unannounced
• See different parts of the home
• Speak to children separately from parents
• Observe, don't just listen to what you're told

Keep the Child's Experience Central

• What does this child's day actually look like?
• What does the child say about their life?
• What does their presentation tell you?
• Are they safer than they were?

Responding to Disguised Compliance

Name It

• Be honest with parents about what you're seeing
• Use clear language: "I'm concerned that while you're attending appointments, I'm not seeing the changes at home that would show me [child] is safer"
• Record your concerns about disguised compliance explicitly

Set Clear Expectations

• Be specific about what change needs to look like
• Set measurable goals with timescales
• Be clear about evidence you need to see
• Explain consequences if change doesn't happen

Test the Engagement

• Vary visit times and reduce notice
• Ask parents to take initiative rather than waiting for professionals
• Set tasks that require sustained effort between visits
• Observe whether changes persist over time

Use Multi-Agency Intelligence

• Share concerns about disguised compliance with other professionals
• Ask what they're seeing
• Pool observations to build a fuller picture
• Discuss in strategy meetings and core groups

Supervision and Support

Recognising disguised compliance is difficult. You need:

• Regular supervision: To reflect on patterns and challenge assumptions
• Fresh eyes: Colleagues who can offer different perspectives
• Chronologies: Written records that show patterns over time
• Permission to be sceptical: It's okay to question whether things are really improving

Avoiding the Trap

Professionals can inadvertently reinforce disguised compliance by:

• Focusing on parental cooperation rather than child outcomes
• Being optimistic about small improvements
• Reducing scrutiny when parents appear to engage
• Closing cases too quickly after apparent improvement
• Not revisiting previous concerns when new ones emerge

Case Recording

Your records should capture:

• Specific observations, not just that you visited
• What the child's experience appears to be
• Discrepancies between what parents say and what you observe
• Patterns over time
• Your professional analysis of whether genuine change is occurring

Conclusion

Disguised compliance is a significant risk factor in child protection work. Recognising it requires maintaining professional curiosity, focusing on outcomes for children rather than processes for parents, and being prepared to challenge apparent cooperation that doesn't translate into safer outcomes for children.

When you suspect disguised compliance, name it, record it, discuss it in supervision, and ensure that your focus remains firmly on the child's daily lived experience—not on whether parents are doing what they're asked to do.