February 2011 Archives

Children as young as 13 are being released from prison without any safe place to go, leaving them vulnerable to homelessness and reoffending, research by Barnardo's has found.

The charity's report No Fixed Abode, published today, found this cycle of youth reoffending and homelessness can cost the government as much as £116,094 over three years. But supporting these young people, Barnardo's found, could save £67,000 per child.

In each of the 4,147 referrals to Barnardo's concerning young people leaving custody in 2009-10, housing was listed as a top five concern.

The charity has now hit at out gaps in the government's so-called 'rehabilitation revolution'.

Anne Marie Carrie, Barnardo's chief executive, said: "Young people who offend are among the most vulnerable; yet children as young as 13 are sent back to families who can't cope and end up without a safe place to live.

"The Government is on the verge of a self-styled 'rehabilitation revolution' -  but there are gaps in the Ministry of Justice's plans which must be filled to ensure we do right by these children and society by bringing down crime levels.

"We don't say this lightly, we are all too aware of the cuts being made across the UK in an effort to fight the effects on the economic crisis we are in, but surely, if ever there is a case for return on investment this is it."

Barnardo's is calling on the government to develop a cross-government action plan, comprising dedicated senior officials from the MoJ, Department for Education and Department for Communities and Local Government, to ensure suitable accommodation for young people leaving custody is treated as an urgent priority.

I've written quite a bit on this blog about Oranges and Sunshine - the new film about a social worker who, in the 1980s, uncovered the organised deportation of over 130,000 children in care - so it seems right to highlight the one year anniversary of the government's apology.

It followed a hard-fought battle for justice and recognition by the social worker - Margaret Humphreys - who has devoted her life to supporting former child migrants and holding authorities to account. For more details about Britain's child migration scandal click here.

This month, Community Care gave 50 lucky readers the chance to attend a special preview screening of Oranges and Sunshine, which stars Emily Watson and Hugo Weaving (pictured). It hits cinemas in April and we will soon be bringing you reviews, interviews with its stars and audience reactions. See the trailer here.

Gordon Brown MP said: "One year ago I was proud to offer an apology for the UK's role in the shameful deportation of thousands of children to former colonies. The deportation of the innocents was cruel, unnecessary and deeply unjust and I am pleased that the Child Migrants Trust continues its excellent work providing support services to those who were so wrongly robbed of their childhood. You have my warm best wishes and my heartfelt thanks."

PM David Cameron said: "One year on from the British Government's apology and the tragedy of thousands of lost childhoods is still as sad and shocking as ever. Margaret Humphreys and the Child Migrants Trust worked hard to secure the apology and continue to support those affected today. I'm delighted that the Government-funded £6 million Family Restoration Fund has already reunited so many former child migrants with their relatives.

The Judge's Council has responded to the government's proposed legal aid reforms with a damning array of areas which will still need to be covered by legal aid if children are to be adequately protected.

These include:

•  a wider definition of domestic violence cases to include sexual and emotional abuse (also pointing out that singling out domestic violence cases may have the peverse incentive of encouraging claims of domestic violence in order to get legal aid)
• private law cases that also involve allegations of abuse against children
• child abduction cases within this country
• international abandonment cases- where a parent is lured to travel to another country with children and are then separated from their children.

The response also points out that the reforms will undoubtedly lead to an increase in people defending themselves which will not only delay family hearings where children are involved but also lead to increased court costs. The government is criticised for not attempting to work out how costly this will be since it may well outweigh any savings from the move. The council also point out that justice will be at risk as judges can only do so much to help litigants through the legal maze without jeopardising their impartiality.

Anyone who has sat through court cases where people are defending themselves could tell you that- the interminable explanations over the simplest legal definitions is often agonising! It was higlighted beautifully in a recent blog from a magistrate.

The Family Division is due to make a separate response to the consultation.

The Scottish government seems to be making a big push around children in care at the moment. They have announced not only that nutritional standards will apply to all care placements, but also that the current Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC) will be transformed into a new centre of excellence providing specialist training for all those who work with looked after children including foster carers and kinship carers.

Funny how England gets rid of its National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care but Scotland builds on theirs.

When making the announcement Scottish minister Adam Ingrams pointed out that although the number of looked after children was rising, it appeared to be due to young people being looked after for longer.

 "This can mean that they are continuing to be looked after without a clear path to a permanent placement. We have been exploring how best we tackle these issues and will be announcing action on this in the coming weeks."

In the same week the Time to Be Heard pilot report was published which allowed former victims of child abuse within care to tell their stories. The government announced that based on this it wanted to take forward a "national confidential forum" drawing on the results of the report.

We might soon end up with the situation that elderly people will all move to Wales for its fairer care system and social workers will start trying to place vulnerable children in Scotland so they get more services?

However, the government does currently seems to be getting itself hemmed in from all sides over changes to the Disability Living Allowance, which will impact on both disabled adults and children. The Guardian reports that it's own advisory committee has criticised the move, demanding in an as yet unpublished response to the consultation on DLA changes, to know if the aim of the changes is to reduce claimants, reduce the length of time people receive it, improve its targeting "or to achieve something else".

The welfare reform bill, published last week, indicated that the government was looking to cut annual spending on DLA by £2.1bn from more than £12bn.

From April 6, all separating couples will be forced to consider mediation before resorting to the courts, under a new agreement between judges and the Ministry of Justice.

Announced today by Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly, the agreement - part of the government's ongoing family justice review and legal aid reforms - means couples will not be allowed to go to court unless they have met with a mediator to discuss their case.

Djanogly has said this is to discourage people from pursuing protracted and expensive court proceedings, in favour of "a quicker, cheaper and more amicable alternative." But some have concerns that the moves could be an attempt to reduce the number of lawyers in the system, putting family lawyers and law firms at risk.

Djanogly said: "Nearly every time I ask someone if their stressful divorce battle through the courts was worth it, their answer is no.

"Mediation already helps thousands of legally-aided people across England and Wales every year, but I am concerned those funding their own court actions are missing out on the benefits it can bring. Now everyone will have the opportunity."

Sir Mark Potter, the former president of the Family Division, has outlined his concerns about the govermment's proposals in an interview with Radio 4 Today.

Picture credit: Rex Features

As reported first in Community Care, the government's updated adoption guidance - due to be published tomorrow - will make it clear that social workers must not bar inter-racial adoptions.

The guidance, designed to improve the nation's falling adoption rate and encourage more prospective adopters to come forward, will also state that adopters should not be turned away because of their age or marital status.

News is filtering through about the likely impact of the changes from the new welfare reform bill on young disabled adults, who formerly got disability living allowance (DLA) automatically, but will now have to be means tested. Because the transition to adulthood isn't difficult enough for these young people.

Polly Toynbee of the Guardian has an interesting column on the myths and the likely impacts surrounding the bill which is worth a look.

Lastly, interesting to note that Cheshire East is adopting the Hackney model of consultant social workers and teams to tackle their increasing referrals. There seems to be an increasing split amongst the sector between those in favour of the Hackney model and those who think it highly over-rated (although most of those comments have been made to me strictly off the record). It has to be admitted that evaluations of the model so far seem highly favourable but it's far too early to see what the impact has been on children's outcomes yet. There is also the matter that, if Professor Munro's latest report is any indicator, the model has the advantage of also laying in place the foundations for a new career structure for social workers.

(Pic credit:MarshallAstor on flickr) 

The first of the unintended victims of proposed welfare reforms appears to be children with cancer and their families. The cancer charity CLIC Sargent has raised concerns that, under the proposals, families will have to wait six months from their child's cancer diagnosis to claim disability living allowance, rather than the current three months. A survey of the charity's social workers found that the proposed change would mean nine in 10 families would suffer financially.

The charity points out treatment for cancer starts immediately and children are usually treated at speciality centres likely to be large distances from people's homes. Parents also often take unpaid leave during treatment. Other changes to the way claims are assessed could also mean patients with fluctuating conditions such as cancer could be disadvantaged.

Other news sees the chief executive of the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service, Simon Bass, worried about the changes to the vetting and barring scheme according to the Church Times. He's quoted as saying the lifting of CRB checks around Sunday School helpers was a "major loophole" that "will be exploited by those determined to abuse children and vulnerable adults. It means, for example, that an abuser who is banned from working in a 'regulated activity', such as teaching, may, without any checks, altern­atively gain access to children through becoming a Sunday-school helper, with potentially devastating consequences."

Mr Bass said that the changes showed that "the Government is prepared to tolerate a level of risk in churches that we -- with long and painful experience of dealing with abusers in church -- find unaccept­able. We think it inevitable that potential predators will see children in churches as soft targets and will act accordingly."

(pic credit: SamHarneson Flickr)

A major police investigation, involving more than 50 officers, has been launched into suspected child sexual exploitation in Torbay.

This morning, it was announced that Devon and Cornwall police have arrested a 19-year-old man in relation to child abuse allegations involving young girls aged 12 and upwards. Police confirmed the investigation may involve 20 children in total.

Details of the alleged abuse have not been revealed, although it is understood victims who have already been identified are being supported by police, health and children's services.

Det Insp Simon Snell said: "One line of enquiry we are looking into as part of the investigation is the use of social networking and online grooming, but it is important to stress this is one of many enquiries being undertaken by the team.

"What I would like to emphasise, however, is this enquiry is not about child abductions and this is not a case of children being taken off the streets. We believe the victims were known to the suspects in some capacity."

On Monday, the government closed its consultation on legal aid cuts, closing the floodgates on responses which have been pouring in since November.

After all, the cuts (some say cuts, some say reforms) have been nothing if not controversial. Just ask Sir Nicholas Wall.

Some of course have cautiously, and not so cautiously, backed them though.

Now, civil servants at the Ministry of Justice will be starting to gather them all together - likely to take a while - and family court staff everywhere will have a nervous wait.

It's been widely reported that proposed cuts to the legal aid budget - designed to save £350m over the next four years, according to Justice Secretary Ken Clarke - will have a devastating impact on vulnerable groups who rely on financial aid for legal advice and representation.

But while the cuts may dissuade some from bringing forward 'unnecessary' cases - as the government clearly hopes - in emotive family law cases, where decisions are potentially life-changing, lawyers have warned cuts will lead to a significant rise in people representing themselves - 'litigants in person' - e.g. parents divorcing or disputing contact arrangements.

This, they say, will have a number of unintended consequences. To name just a few: delays in court cases as litigants struggle to understand complex legal processes; a marked increase in appeals and even a rise in those who take the law into their own hands, turning violent, abducting their children or fleeing abroad.

Inevitably this would have huge financial and social implications... But, as Richard Moorhead, deputy head of law at Cardiff University, explains here, it's unclear how much of this the government has grasped and what safeguards or support would be introduced.

Picture credit: xlibber

In a recent interview I did with Graham Allen, head of the government's Early Intervention Commission, he said he was aware that every pet project in the country facing budget cuts would be looking to hitch their carts to the early intervention agenda in a bid to save themselves. He said the only way around this was to be stringent about the evidence based criteria used to assess interventions.

Thus it was with interest I read Michael Little's blog this morning about the issue of family group conferencing. FGC is everywhere at the moment,  largely due to the very media savvy efforts of the Family Rights Group. It is being considered by the Family Justice Review and ministers often include it as an example of good, cost-effective practice that can improve outcomes. We ourselves have contributed with a couple of features because it seems like a logical solution to so many problems.

Yet Little says two comprehensive evaluations have found no evidence that FGCs improve outcomes. He argues that it is a classic case of those who shout loudest getting the money.

I think it's an interesting example of the difficulties in shifting social care to an evidence based footing when there is so little evidence or research out there. My experience from health suggests that probably 10 years down the track FGCs will be proved to have good outcomes but then 5 years after that more research will throw doubt on those conclusions. Evidence based practice is never without controversy but it's better than investing blind. I also agree that you need to start somewhere. Having a policy of funding only those interventions with a robust evidence base is often a good way to get more research conducted on an intervention.

Other interesting snippets that caught my eye this morning are two amusing blog posts that seem to illustrate the issues around legal aid cuts at the moment. Other lawyers pointing out how little legal aid lawyers earn compared to others and a magistrate pointing out exactly how much more expensive proceedings are going to be if people represent themselves.

Lastly a plug for two interesting stories from our adults team. The issue of whether a learning disabled mother should be sterilised has interesting knock-on questions for children's social care and kinship care. The woman's parents have taken on the care of the two children but have said they would not be able to care for any more children. Our providers survey has also shown the devastating impact the cuts are having on both adult and children's care providers (although it has to be admitted that we had a much greater response from the adult sector).

As of April, all children's homes will face two unannounced inspections a year - one full, taking up to two days, and one interim - under changes announced by Ofsted today.

The inspection framework will shift to focus more closely on the quality and impact of services and outcomes for children, the watchdog said, and will ensure that, "inspectors see the homes as they really are".

How will this changes things for the residential care sector? Have your say on CareSpace.

A children's charity has applied for a judicial review of Justice Secretary Ken Clarke's refusal to identify hundreds, if not thousands, of children unlawfully restrained in privately-run jails. 

It follows the second inquest into the 2004 death of 14-year-old Adam Rickwood. The teenager became the youngest person to die in state custody when he was found hanging in his cell at Hassockfield secure training centre, just hours after being unlawfully restrained. 

The Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) is calling for children who may have been restrained using similar unlawful methods - such as the painful nose distraction technique - to be identified so they can take legal action against their treatment.

Carolyne Willow, CRAE's national co-ordinator, said the charity has tried "everything possible" to persuade Ministers that children who were unlawfully restrained in secure training centres should be "given the opportunity to challenge their abusive treatment".

"These children were held in regimes where unlawful restraint and the brutal nose, rib and thumb "distractions" were common practice. Even the managers and the Youth Justice Board claimed to be confused about the law. It's a disgrace that no attempt has been made to find these child victims. We are talking about hundreds, if not thousands, of children.

"The very least the authorities can now do is check through their records and identify children who were unlawfully restrained and help them seek redress."

The issue of restraint has long caused controversy, following Rickwood's death and the death in custody of Gareth Myatt, 14, in 2004 - which prompted an independent review. Last year, the Ministry of Justice and the YJB were forced to publish details of state-approved restraint techniques contained in a secret prison service manual.

Meanwhile, a YJB report published today also confirmed controversial full strip-searches are to continue in child prisons and secure children's homes.

Morning all. Here's a little round-up of things on the Community Care radar today:

A doctor who said she failed to spot that Baby P had a broken back has been removed from the medical register, the BBC reports.

Arguments in favour of early intervention are well rehearsed, but are the measures financially sustainable, asks Baroness Massey of Darwen.

Manchester City Council has appointed a new director of children's services. Mike Livingstone, currently deputy DCS, will start his role on April 1st this year.

And last, but by no means least, my colleagues on the workforce team have compiled a caseloads survey to ascertain just how much pressure social workers are currently under. As this blog will tell you, your views will help us drive home the message that urgent action is needed to tackle the problems social workers are facing.

The Scotsman reports the knives are out for Scotland's Children's Commissioner Tam Baillie as the scottish parliament's corporate body (SPCB) votes on extending is two-year term later today.

It cites correspondence which has been released under freedom of information legislation, but mysteriously it doesn't say who did the FOI request or who is sending it to the SPCB.

The letters allegedly claim the Commissioner is more interested in self-promotion than raising awareness of children's rights. The Scotsman also highlights the amount of money spent on a public campaign which included creating a cartoon version of Baillie (left) and public figures showing staff sickness and turnover have risen since Baillie took office.

However, the SPCB panel interviewed Mr Baillie last month and considered an evaluation of his work in the role, by former MSP Murray Tosh, and it seems likely they will unanimously vote that he should continue for a further six years.

In other news the BBC reports an Oldham mother who claims her baby was wrongly taken into care has taken her case to the European Courts. Chris Mills' Child Protection Blog ponders Community Care's recent analysis on the Munro Report and particularly some points around ICS.

Finally, the Marmot Review of public health has released data on five year old development across the country which shows:

• Just under half (44%) of all five year olds in England are not considered by their teachers to have a good level of development in the first year of school - this assessment is based on national criteria of behaviour and understanding
• The percentage who do not have a good level of development rises to 58% in the London Borough of Haringey, followed by 55% in Brent, Newham and the County of Herefordshire
• The local authorities with the largest percentage of children (69%) achieving a good level of development at age five are Solihull in the West Midlands and Richmond upon Thames.

(pic credit: DSharonPruitt on Flickr) 

We've had huge amounts of interest in the new British film about a social worker, Oranges and Sunshine , since blogging about it here and here. You've all asked for the trailer and here it is. Look out for more on the film - which hits cinemas in April - in Community Care soon.

Michael Gove has appointed a new Ofsted chairman, named as Baroness Sally Morgan of Huyton. She takes over from previous chair, Zenna Atkins, and will start on March 1st.

Gove said: "Sally is a hugely talented individual whose passion is improving education. She will ensure Ofsted focuses on improving our schools so we can match the world's best, and will help us make opportunity more equal for the poorest."

Baroness Morgan said: "I am delighted to be taking up this post. Ofsted has a crucial role to play in the drive to raise standards, especially for disadvantaged students."

She has been an adviser to the global board of ARK, a children's charity, since 2005 and serves on a number of public bodies. She was previously political secretary to Tony Blair, director of government relations at 10 Downing Street and a Minster of State at the Cabinet Office, for Equalities. She was created a life peer in 2001.

Great post from one of my favourite new social work bloggers How Not to do Social Work on working in an open plan office with the rest of the children's social care workforce.

It raises some really interesting issues around critical reflection and hot desking- is it possible in a noisy, chaotic, open-plan office where you never know if you have a desk? Also how team managers can deal with complaints about someone who might or might not be at the desk next to them.

Funnily enough it always seems to be the little things that can have the biggest knock-on effect. Where we work can have a massive impact on our work.

At the moment, in my office, someone is trialling standing up more at his desk because it is proven to be much healthier. He reports beneficial effects already. I will often retreat to the downstairs coffee area when I need some quiet thinking time- which is ironic since it's far noisier than my office but it's the separation from phones and incoming emails that is the point.

Professor Munro in her second report made a point that the "environment" in which social workers operate can influence on how effective they are, reflecting the view that children's social work teams can often be toxic places to work.

Others have called for a return to patch based working, pointing out it is the multi-agency links that are the most important part of their job and it makes sense to share an office or area with them.

We recently ran a feature on Gateshead children's social workers who are miles ahead in terms of promoting mobile working which had improved case recording and improving time spent with families.

I'm not at all sure where I'm going with this but I just felt it was an interesting collection of thoughts and examples that show that more thought needs to be spent on not only what work children's social workers are doing but also on the nitty gritty of where and how they are working.

(Pic credit: Spleeney on flickr) 

*** We have 25 pairs of tickets for an exclusive advance screening of Oranges and Sunshine, the forthcoming film about a Nottingham social worker, Margaret Humphreys - honoured this month in the New Years Honours List - who uncovered Britain's forced migration of around 150,000 children in care to Australia. ***

Based on Humphreys' book Empty Cradles, the film - the directorial debut of Ken Loach's son Jim - stars twice-Oscar nominated actress Emily Watson as Humphreys, Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings) and David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings). 

It won't hit cinemas until April but if you email me (camilla.pemberton@rbi.co.uk) with your name and job title, you could be seeing the film ahead of the crowds in London's Soho on Thursday 17 February at 6pm. (Obviously more details once you've got in touch with us).

When Community Care interviewed David Norgrove, chair of the Family Justice Review, last year he was aware of the mammoth task he had inherited.

He was also aware of the frustration many would feel at having to wait so long for the review to report - it's due to be published in the autumn, with an interim report out at the end of March, including elements for consultation - so he vowed to be as open as possible about its progress. (We've also kept you updated along the way of course). 

This openness, it seems, includes posting video updates on youtube. Let's hope this proactive approach is a sign of good things to come...

Picture credit: Rex Features

New tools to help social workers identify and protect trafficked and sexually exploited children have been launched today by the London Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB).

They aim to support all those who come into contact with suspected victims, including social workers, volunteers, teachers, police and health workers, and have been tested over the last 14 months by 12 pilot councils, in connection with the Home Office, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre and the UK Border Agency.

The main findings from the pilot were:

• Once a child is identified as being a victim of trafficking, immediate action must be taken before they go missing.

• Awareness needs to be raised among the public and professionals who can sometimes underestimate the scale of the issue.

• Multiple interviews with various agencies can be traumatic for young victims of trafficking - a single multi-agency assessment is preferred.

• Teams of agencies need to work more closely together and be more proactive in sharing information quickly with organisations in neighbouring areas as well as the voluntary sector.

There are many things I like about Professor Munro's interim report on her review of child protection but chief amongst them I think is a clear argument that social work is not mathematics.

Social worker's obviously already know this but I sometimes think, and Prof. Munro's report backs this up, that politicians, social work managers and councils sometimes confuse the two- ie if you fill out this form and collect this information you can make this decision and it should only cost this much.

But what I also like is that she says it cannot be a profession that relies solely on gut instinct either. Gut instinct or intuition is important but it is a combination of your senses picking up on evidence and your own emotional reaction to a situation.

To be an effective children's social worker, the good professor argues, you need space and time to reflect on what is evidence and what is your own emotion. You also need an evidence base to know how to interpret your intuition, to decide what intervention is right and you need supervisors able to challenge your instincts, force you to articulate them and acknowledge the emotional impact the work can have on individuals.

She seems to be thinking about proposing a new career structure for children's social workers that is based more on the medical model of junior doctors going up the ranks to become clinical specialists. This is already happening increasingly in nursing so it would make sense for it to happen in social work which, in my opinion, requires a similar amount of skill and expertise along with the ability to critically evaluate the outcomes.

 But again I worry that in the current financial climate such a proposal will require money and a lot of will amongst politicians, universities, councils and the profession itself. Given the recent issues around the college of social work and the cuts councils and universities are facing I feel it might be a big ask. Although of course that is never an argument for sitting down and doing nothing.

A landmark Supreme Court ruling today has paved the way for families facing deportation to remain in the UK if it is in the best interests of their children.

In the case of ZH (Tanzania) v SSHD [2011] UKSC4, the Supreme Court allowed a Tanzanian woman who was threatened with deportation to remain in the UK because removing her would breach the Article 8 human rights of her two children - the right to private and family life.

This was despite her chequered immigration history, which included two asylum claims under a false name. The decision will mean that courts must consider the best interests of children in cases where a parent is threatened with deportation.

Syd Bolton and Baljeet Sandhu, co-directors of the Refugee Children's Rights Project, said the decision marked a "significant step forward". In a joint statement they said: "The court has now set in stone the need to recognise the rights of the child and has sought to address the injustice done to children when immigration control is put before their welfare and needs."

They said the ruling highlighted the vulnerability of children in the immigration system, who will be denied access to justice, they claimed, under the government's proposals to cut legal aid funding. "If these proposals come to fruition an important case such as this may have never reached the court's doors," they stated

They called for the courts, the UK Border Agency and the Legal Services Commission to put in place "child-sensitive procedures to ensure that this judgment is given full effect in their duties to safeguard children, and that in all decisions about children and their families, their best interests should customarily dictate the outcome".

Picture credit: Rex Features

• To encourage change the review has been working in partnerships with five authorities who have requested greater flexibility when assessing the needs of children and young people. They'll be granted temporary suspension from statutory guidance for six months.
• Working Together to Safeguard Children to be reduced down to pure statutory guidance (eliminating professional advice)
• The review is minded to strengthen the role of local safeguarding children boards in monitoring the impact of practice, training and learning on the child's journey
• It's important the role of the Director of Children's Services continues as the key point of professional accountability for child protection services
• Review endorses sure start children's centres and the health visitor service in early intervention
• Evidence to the review shows strong support for the common assessment framework.
• Neglect not always being safely identified and responded to. The review is considering solutions where multi-agency teams that include social workers are located in the community alongside universal services.
• Considering getting rid of initial and core assessments and any referral to children's social care would be used to build on.
• The current management style puts too much emphasis on the bureaucratic aspects of the work. Radical reform is needed to give due weight to the importance of the cognitive and emotional requirements of the work.
• The review is considering how "user-centred design" of assessment and decision making tools can provide better aids to professional reasoning.
• The review is working in particularly with practitioners on how the design of the integrated children's system (ICS) software can be made more user friendly and efficient.
• Social work practice needs to be more evidence based.
• The review is building on the Social Work Reform Board's capabilities framework to draft the specialist capabilities needed in child and family social work.
• Review looking at, with the College of Social Work, improving the response of the social work profession to public debates about their work, especially in a crisis, so that there is a clearer account of professional practice.
• The review is considering whether, in light of wider reform of public services, there is a need for a panel composed of the relevant professions within the child protection system to advice government and the professions on how the different parts of the child protection system are interacting and whether problems are emerging.

More to come when have read the full report.