
Lawyers have long argued that an extreme case is a poor basis for a general law that would cover a wider range of less extreme cases, and inevitably bring with it a major risk of unintended consequences. Is this true for our family welfare system? Should we be thinking about changing policy or practice guidance? How should we respond to the harrowing details in the reporting of the trials of the killers of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson?
We have yet to see what a detailed, informed analysis of the individual practice, local system performance and capacity, and national learning will bring. This has not prevented people in positions of power and with access to the media from calling for something to be done. In parliament, the Education Secretary raised the temperature of the debate by sharing his view that “any inkling… of harm to any child” should lead to that child being taken away from their parent immediately. Other voices have called for child protection work to be undertaken by a new breed of specialist services. I, too, question whether it is time to contemplate structural or systemic change if that might save lives.
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