Alliance calls for caution ahead of child protection reforms

The Care Review Watch Alliance (CRWA) says the government needs to carefully consider the implications of the recommendations set out in the Child Protection in England report published by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

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The report, which follows an inquiry set up by the panel in response to the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, says an expert child protection unit should be set up in every local area.

This would see teams embedded within local authorities handed responsibility for child protection services including chairing child protection conferences, reviewing child protection plans and recommending court applications.

The proposals are in line with the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England, which also published its findings last week, that suggests the creation of an expert child protection practitioner role.

While the CRWA said it acknowledged the importance of such a “poignant” time in light of both reports being published within days of each other, it called for the government to consider evidence from other countries before making any significant changes.

“The international evidence from the US and Australia makes it very clear that separating child protection cases from family help cases increases investigations and conversely, reduces the number of families getting help," the CRWA said.

“This would seem at odds with the vision of the independent review of children’s social care. The last thing we need is greater disconnect between family help and child protection.” 

Priorities for child protection should mean having enough qualified child and family social workers that have the skills and knowledge to support families and safeguard children, it added.

“We do not need a new breed of child protection social workers reduced to technicians and investigators - this will not serve children and families well,” the CRWA stated.

The group said there was evidence to show that areas which had adopted this way of working had created a “functional division” between child protection teams and local children’s social care teams.

“Families are being passed back and forth in the system," it added. "This is potentially very risky to children and families as decisions are made about stepping cases up and down and out of the system.”

Keeping in line with the Care Review’s recommendation for an integrated service, the group said it was “non-negotiable” that social workers, and those in managerial and supervisory roles, had child protection expertise.

“We are concerned about where these experienced social workers, and colleagues in police and health, will come from given the current shortages. This must be addressed and these roles must be valued and properly supported by the government," it said.

Meanwhile, the Care Review's recommendation that independent reviewing officer (IRO) roles be scrapped has been met with opposition from these workers’ representative body.

The National Association of Independent Reviewing Officers (NAIRO) said it strongly rejected proposals to transfer the majority of the independent officer function to a child’s social worker and their manager.

“If accepted by the government, this recommendation would remove vital independent oversight and protection from children who are looked after by local authorities,” NAIRO said.