At the time of writing however, it did not look as if his report, out on 12 March, would transform the structures for safeguarding children ushered in by Every Child Matters. And nor should it. The system as a whole isn't broken.
So many safeguarding practitioners day-in, day-out, save children from abuse and worse. But mistakes - big ones with tragic consequences - have been made and social workers have tended to take the most flak.
Last week's Local Government Association report Respect and Protect on the recruitment crisis in children's social work, likened child protection to football, in which teachers, police, health visitors and GPs are all on the team, with the social worker as the goalkeeper - the last line of defence with whom the buck stops.
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