Believe it or not, in comparison to most other countries, it is well-established and effective. But Local Children’s Safeguarding Boards (LCSBs) will no longer be statutory and Serious Case Reviews will be replaced under a new system, resulting from the enactment of the Children and Social Work Act 2017. The current public consultation on the proposed changes to the Working Together to Safeguard Children Guidance will determine the final version that will fully implement the new law.
Whether this new system is more effective in the long run remains to be seen, but the guidance, yet to be set in stone, provides a crucial insight into the system’s new ‘feel’. For example, instead of asking whether a child death was preventable, it is proposed that the child death review process considers and identifies ‘modifiable factors’ – contributory factors to a death that could be modified to reduce the risk of future child deaths.
It is unclear how this might significantly change and improve the current system. But it is clear that there is a high level of frustration when the same identified issues and recommendations are repeated time and time and again with little evidence of direct impact in preventing future child deaths.
The question that must be addressed during the consultation is, ‘How does the new system enable professionals to engage with parents and children to identify needs and risks and provide timely and effective levels of service?’ This is the issue across every service and for every early years professional.
Will the final design of the new system enable proactive engagement of each and every professional? Changing the system brings its own risks, but they can be mitigated when people feel involved, listened to and can share and participate. We have a duty to improve where we can but we must never lose sight of the fact that it is people who operate these systems and they focus on other people – children first and foremost and adults close behind. We must never lose sight of the ‘human’.
The safeguarding consultation can be found at: http://bit.ly/2iycstE
John Simmonds is director of policy, research and development at CoramBAAF
See our articles on The Chlldren and Social Work Act
