NEWSFLASH: The CPSC conference due to take place in London on 14 June 2012 has been unavoidably postponed due to circumstances entirely beyond our control. Colleagues who had already booked conference places have been informed. We will circulate the new date as soon as it is confirmed.
Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience
The Munro Review and Multi Agency Cooperation
The publication of the final report of The Munro Review of Child Protection (May 2011) has brought England’s child protection system into sharp focus. The review consists of three separate reports. The first report, in October 2010, describes the current system and explains the principles that have shaped child protection practice. The second report in February 2011 focusses on the child’s journey through the system. The final report, entitled ‘a child centred system’ discusses the changes and improvements required to move the system from one that is overly concerned with processes and tick boxes to one which values professionals’ expertise and supports them to make the best judgements about children’s welfare.
The main focus of review is undoubtedly the social care sector, but it also has significant implications for safeguarding practice across education and health. The acknowledgement that children’s social care services lack the capacity to manage the increasing volume of referrals seems to suggest that the universal services of education and health will be encouraged to manage much of the ‘early help’ (preventative and pre-section 47 services) referred to by Munro.
The government has so far declined to accept Munro’s recommendation to place a statutory duty on local authorities and their partners (including schools and health services) to secure sufficient provision of early help. Nevertheless, schools, health and voluntary agencies look set to be ‘early help’ co-ordinators, whether or not there is legislation to direct them to do so.
These major changes to the safeguarding and child protection landscape take place at a time of unprecedented economic turmoil that has resulted in a reduction of local authority support for safeguarding, whilst the need for services continues to rise.
It is imperative that all agencies working on behalf of children, whether statutory, voluntary or commercial, continue to promote children’s rights and meet our responsibilities to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children.
