Child protection case reviews are often overburdened with detail and fail to reach clear conclusions, the government has concluded.
In a new report, an independent panel appointed by the Department for Education examines the effectiveness of serious case reviews (SCRs), which are held by child protection professionals whenever a vulnerable child is killed or seriously harmed in order to establish any lessons to be learned.
Too many such reviews do not “present clear findings”, the report claims, and contain excessive amounts of irrelevant detail. The authors insist:
“There still appears to be too great an emphasis on the methodology of report writing rather than on the production of a report which succinctly and clearly encapsulates what happened, why and what should be done to prevent a recurrence.”
There is too much variability in the quality of SCRs and.
“Too many are still burdened with detail, whether relevant or not, whilst failing to present clear findings.”
A total of 168 case reviews were held in the year to June.
The report is available here.
A report on reviews. A report squared.
Let’s have a review of reports like this!
Why Reviews? when the 1989 Childrens Act covers everything that could be possibly be discussed in these reviews.