Understanding Serious Case Reviews and their Impact: A Biennial Study analysed 189 serious case reviews arising from incidents occurring between April 2005 and March 2007.
It concludes that children's service professionals are too overwhelmed with problems and cases, leading to children becoming "lost", with some not even known at school.
The report cites reluctant parental co-operation and multiple moves as factors in children falling off the radar, but points out that parental co-operation can also mask abuse.
The analysis threw up a number of issues around fathers and men, including a lack of information in serious case reviews and failing to take fathers and other men connected to families into account when writing assessments.
Researchers also found that only two of 106 reviews carried out in 2005-06 were completed in the four-month time scale, which they called "unrealistic".
Marian Brandon, childcare specialist at the University of East Anglia and lead author of the report, said: "We found evidence for the potential for a retreat into a blame culture and defensive practice in carrying out serious case reviews. There was also a concern about the prospect of a slide into formulaic reports that will pass muster with the inspectorate."
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