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The government's green paper on the future of children's services, due for release in September, has been drafted primarily in response to Lord Laming's report into the death of Victoria Climbie. It is, as yet, unclear how Laming's report will be interpreted. But if the green paper follows its lead and sidesteps issues of race and culture it will represent a significant missed opportunity for child protection.

There is evidence to suggest that child death inquiries are consistently failing to address issues of race and culture. A recent Department of Health study, Learning from Past Experience, found that of the 40 cases reviewed, 32 made no reference to race and culture. Likewise, there are few statistics that can tell us how many children who die from abuse are from ethnic minorities.

Even in the more recent child death reports, exploration of issues of race and culture have been limited, particularly in terms of providing a context and an understanding for the child's family norms, experiences and networks. Reading Newham area child protection committee's part 8 review into the death of Ainlee Labont' you would not know that the mother or father was black, nor the racial identity of the first son. Ainlee died, aged two, in January last year covered in cigarette burns and weighing just 21lb. Agencies had withdrawn from the family.

The Laming inquiry does clearly identify the race and culture of Victoria Climbie and her carers, but does not explore how cultural and religious beliefs may have influenced the abuse that was inflicted on the girl. Victoria's great aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao, and partner, Carl Manning, are serving life for her murder.

This needs to be addressed. The impact of race, culture and religion in child protection is hard to overestimate. And the absence of good, statistical evidence denies us the opportunity to identify gaps in services for black children and their families. It also prevents us improving professional practice in relation to these families.

To give one particularly pertinent example: in chapter three of the Victoria Climbie Report, Victoria's Story, there is a section about the eight year old and the church. These paragraphs outline how Kouao used church members for support and advice over her concerns about Victoria.

Victoria had become incontinent. When Kouao asked for advice on this, according to the inquiry report, she was told by at least two pastors at the church that it was their opinion that the girl had been possessed by an evil spirit. It is clear from the evidence given to the inquiry that both Kouao and Manning took on this belief about Victoria, and she is referred to as "Satan" in an entry in Manning's diary.

What the inquiry failed to explore was what this belief system meant in terms of how Kouao and Manning treated Victoria. For the couple to have this belief gave them an explanation for Victoria's wetting and soiling which removed the responsibility from them. In their minds it may have justified and legitimised the torture they were inflicting on Victoria, and possibly even intensified it.

By failing to address this issue in the depth it deserves, the Laming report missed an important opportunity to explore cultural and religious beliefs and how the concept of child abuse is understood in minority communities

The green paper should now set out the need to create a dialogue with community and religious groups to raise awareness about child abuse and its symptoms, to enable communities to develop an understanding of these issues and why children need protecting. Not to suggest that all of a community's practices and belief systems are abusive to children but to explore where certain beliefs have come from and what the implications of such beliefs could be.

Child protection agencies have a responsibility to offer alternative explanations for behaviours which are being credited to beliefs such as evil spirits - in Victoria's case, the alternative explanation was that her incontinence was a symptom of the abuse and emotional upheaval she had experienced.

Further, given that this belief system around evil spirits is common in many cultures, Lord Laming and the inquiry team should also have considered what the wider implications might be. For instance, what impact would it have on any child to be told that they are possessed by an evil spirit? How would this "knowledge" affect that child's emotional, social and psychological development?


The role of the black community in the protection of black children should not be underestimated. In Victoria's situation it is important to remember that when Kouao and Manning wanted help with Victoria they went to their church and asked advice from people there - not from social services, the GP or the hospital.

The reasons for this have to be seen in the context of the experience of black people living in a racist society, which can deter them from approaching the statutory agencies for support, as can questions around immigration status.

It is difficult to know whether Victoria could have been saved. But it is clear that culturally sensitive workers who knew how to assess child protection concerns in families from different cultures may have been more able to see the warning signs. Likewise, if there had been more awareness around issues of child abuse among the black community that Kouao and Manning became a part of, there would have been many more people with more opportunities to notice that something was amiss and raise their concerns.

What is needed is a checklist which could be used as a guide for individuals and teams undertaking serious case reviews to ensure that issues of race and culture are fully explored. I would suggest one along the lines of that described in the panel (below).

The movement of vulnerable adults and children will increase and will continue to challenge care services. The result is that we must identify more proactive responses to populations who are vulnerable. Clearly missing from the Laming report is a recommendation that child protection agencies should be working proactively with community and religious organisations to promote awareness about child abuse. This could be done at a local level with area child protection committees - or their statutory successors - making links with community groups in their areas.

It is to be hoped that the green paper addresses some of the Laming report's inadequacies in this area.

Daksha Mistry is training director and Saira Chauhan trainer and consultant at Reconstruct, an independent training and consultancy company. They will be facilitating workshops at the forthcoming conference Fit for Practice in Child Protection? in London on 18 September. They can be contacted at daksha@reconstruct.co.uk and saira@reconstruct.co.uk

Part 8 checklist

A checklist for part 8 inquiry teams could help to address issues of race and culture in abuse cases. 

• Does the case file contain accurate information of the race, culture or heritage of this family? 
• Was consideration given to any needs that arise in relation to the ethnicity of the child or family, such as: the ability to speak and understand English; their familiarity with services; the impact of racism or uprooting from their country of origin; the significance of cultural and religious practices and beliefs? 
• Was culture being used as an excuse for child abuse? Were the baseline standards for good enough parenting and significant harm different from those for a white family? 
• Did the assessment include an exploration of how the family's culture may affect parenting? 
• Was this child and family isolated from members of their extended family or cultural group?  
• Was there an exploration of their support systems and networks? 
• Was the worker challenged in supervision about their attitudes,  assumptions and stereotypes about this family?