Seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq, starved to death by her mother and step-father who have been found guilty of manslaughter, is the latest child protection tragedy to hit the headlines.
It's a case that puts a nasty dent into the slow rebuilding of morale in children's social work and child safeguarding more generally. But what are we to learn from it?
Well first, her death happened in Birmingham in 2008. Its safeguarding track record, certainly during that period, is notorious. Although we await the serious case review, Khyra's story is horribly familar - one of countless missed opportunities from children's social services to intervene. And we already knew Birmingham had problems. This does NOT make her death any less tragic or any more acceptable. But it IS a symptom of something that was already apparent.
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