The Munro Review of Child Protection – Part One: A Systems Analysis, the first report of my independent review of child protection was published today.
Protecting children is a complex and important job, which requires deep thought and consideration. My aim for the first stage of this review has been to step back and think carefully about why previous reforms have not made the improvements to practice and outcomes they were expected to make. The report is purposely analytical and does not contain recommendations for change, although I will be making these in the final stages of the review.
I hope that social workers and other professionals working with children and young people will view the analysis in my report as a sound basis from which to work to improve the child protection system and ultimately therefore the experiences of children and young people needing help and protection.
Summarised below are details of the approach the review has taken and its scope.
Professor Eileen Munro
1 October 2010
The review’s approach
The whole system as well as the parts
The report uses a ‘systems approach’ to help us to understand why previous reforms have not led to expected improvements. While reforms were well intentioned and often well designed, they were frequently made in isolation and in response to specific incidents. The cumulative effect has been to create an imbalance at the front line – professionals have told the review that more focus is being given to complying with process and regulations than to providing a service that meets the needs of children and young people.
Focusing on children and young people
While it may seem self-evident that children and young people must remain the focus of child-protection services, the report highlights the views and experiences of social workers and others, who suggest that an over-bureaucratised system, focused on meeting targets, has reduced the capacity to spend time with children and young people. Children and young people themselves have told us that they still regularly have to manage frequent changes of social worker, that help is often not quickly available and that their wishes and feelings can go unheard. As the review progresses, the impact of any changes on children and young people will be kept in constant view.
Uncertainty in child protection
The report seeks to explain that uncertainty is a key feature in all aspects of child protection work. Identifying cases of abuse or neglect is an uncertain process, since much worrying behaviour goes on at home and certainty and interpretation of the facts can be difficult. A problem for society and professionals is working out a realistic expectation of professionals’ ability to predict the future and manage risk and harm to young people. As the review develops, it will consider how social workers and others involved with child protection can be helped to handle uncertainty.
The review’s scope covers:
Early intervention and prevention
While professionals in universal services cannot and should not replace the function of social work, they need to be able to understand and think professionally about the children, young people and families they are working with. The review will look at the spectrum of support for families, focusing on issues such as:
- developing a greater range of expertise in Early Years settings and other universal services in support of vulnerable children, young people and families
- the types of changes required in universal services to tackle the rise in referrals to children’s social work services.
Frontline practice
Improving frontline practice is a central strand of the review. Thought will be given to how professional dependence on prescriptive rules can be replaced by a mixture of ‘best professional principles’ and ‘guided judgement’. In particular the review will focus on:
- the assessment framework and process and the potential for a more child-centred approach
- how ICT can most usefully support social work practice, including decision making
- ensuring children and young people involved in the care system are not further damaged by delays in the process.
Transparency and accountability
The review will consider the environment those working in child protection are expected to operate within, focusing on:
- how the performance and inspection system can better focus on the quality of social work interaction with children, young people and families, including the impact and difference this makes
- the role of Local Safeguarding Children Boards and how they can become more effective in their strategic leadership role and the multi-agency learning from practice that must develop
- why the performance and accountability framework within child protection has not secured a culture of learning and development
- how public confidence in the profession can be improved through, for example, having a better understanding of the complexity of decisions and the uncertainty professionals work with each day.
Next steps
There are questions and observations throughout this initial report that we hope will stimulate local professional discussion and national debate. There will be opportunities for feedback and discussion going forward and we suggest you keep referring to this website for the review.
Please email munro.review@education.gsi.gov.uk for further information.