President of the family division Sir James Munby last month raised the case of a 17-year-old girl, Child X, who was on the verge of being released from youth custody back into the community because there were no inpatient beds available across the country and despite her being at significant risk of attempting suicide (see box).
Child X had been let down by a system that failed to step in early with support before she reached crisis point. Like a fractal pattern, if we zoom out a similar story emerges; the system too has been let down - namely by policy makers and those in government who failed to act early before it too reached crisis point.
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