Analysis: Reform facing frontline child protection

The independent review intended to free social workers from excessive paperwork and too many rules so they can spend more time working directly with vulnerable children and their families has been broadly welcomed by children's organisations and social workers.

Professor Eileen Munro of the London School of Economics has been asked by education secretary Michael Gove to look at ways to improve frontline child protection and report back with final recommendations by April 2011. Interim reports will be made in September and next January.

This latest review comes after mounting public disquiet at the failure of child protection professionals to prevent the deaths of Baby P and Khyra Ishaq. The Government has ordered that in future, reviews into serious abuse cases will be published to help restore public confidence in the system. Professor Munro will also look at how serious case reviews can be strengthened, or whether there are more effective ways to ensure lessons are learned when something goes badly awry.

The Government has also scrapped the controversial ContactPoint database of all 11 million children in England, as well as the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit. The Government's chief adviser on child safety, Sir Roger Singleton, who oversaw the work of the unit, has resigned.

However, while the new team at the Department for Education is ushering in a programme of fundamental change for children's social work, it is not totally abandoning the reforms proposed by its predecessor. The emphasis is on redirecting the focus of the service.

Speaking at the launch of the Munro review, families minister Tim Loughton said, 'Everything about child protection should start with the child at the centre and questions should then be asked - "what helps or hinders professionals from making the best judgements and intervention they can to protect a vulnerable child?"

'A culture has taken hold in child protection which places too much emphasis on bureaucratic box-ticking above close personal attention to the circumstances of individual children.'

Mr Loughton, who has been a long-time critic of the last Labour administration's practice of imposing more and more regulations and rules on social workers, added, 'This review is about decreasing bureaucracy. I would be happy if the rule book was cut in half.'

The review was set in context by Nushra Mansuri, manager (England) of the British Association of Social Workers, who said, 'Lord Laming's review after the death of Victoria Climbie made 108 recommendations and there was a safeguarding review last year after the death of Peter Connelly. We feel these reviews tended to deal with the "what" rather than the "why". So they have looked at what happened and the recommendations have been remedial, rather than digging deeper.

'Sadly, every time we have had a serious child abuse tragedy we have ended up with more rigidity being imposed on the system. When you have one bad case, and bring in a whole set of new rules as a result, it can stifle innovation and good practice and create fear.

'We feel this review is quite refreshing. It is being conducted by Professor Munro, who is a social worker and an academic. She is an expert in the field of child protection and a woman of great integrity.

'We hope Professor Munro can talk about the issues in more detail rather taking a broadbrush approach. She has said that social workers need to earn trust, which I think is good.'

UNDER INVESTIGATION

The key issues Professor Munro will address are:

Early intervention

• - Improving interaction between social work teams and universal services
• - Using Sure Start and children's centres to identify at-risk families
• - Identifying barriers to good social work practice
• - How other agencies can better help

Trusting frontline social workers

• - Simplifying regulation and reducing bureaucracy
• - Identifying how targets get in the way of good practice

• - How the recording of cases can support professionals' work
• - How social workers can be given greater professional freedom
• - Lessons from other countries
• - How poorly performing areas can match the standard of the best
• - Best practice in information-sharing between councils

Transparency and accountability

• - How more transparency in the system could build greater public confidence
• - How serious case reviews can be strengthened
• - How risk can be managed to avoid a blame culture
• - How the system can champion professionals to increase their status
• - How inspection can be improved

SOCIAL WORK MODELS

It is thought that one of the social work models that Professor Munro will highlight is the 'Reclaiming Social Work' project running in Hackney, London, which she has investigated (see box).

Speaking at the launch, Professor Munro said she wanted to build on the work of the Social Work Task Force, set up by the Labour Government.

The group, chaired by Moira Gibb, reported last December. Among its key recommendations were the establishment of an independent College of Social Work to act as a voice for the profession, and the creation of a career framework for social workers, including the introduction of an assessed first year in employment for newly qualified social workers.

Training of social workers needs to be addressed, according to a social worker in inner London, who says, 'My view is that the training is not up to scratch. Getting placements can be problematic, so students do not get the experience of face-to-face contact with children. They do not learn how to interact with the children, so when they start work and have to do an assessment they follow the set form to guide them. It tells you what questions you need to ask the family and the child. I think there is something missing here.

'All the research tells us that social workers believe what parents tell us about themselves, but we should not necessarily believe what they say.'

The NSPCC warns that abusers can go to great lengths to conceal a child's ill-treatment. The charity's spokesperson Diana Sutton says, 'Reviews of the current system have found that when children are killed or seriously injured, the most significant failure involved professionals not seeing or speaking to children.

'We want the new Government to put a legal duty on social workers to see a child alone without their parents. Social workers would be better able to deal with unco-operative or hostile parents with the force of the law behind them.'

Funding in the current climate is also a major issue for the service. A recent survey by BASW found that only 5 per cent of child protection teams are fully staffed and 96 per cent of social workers fear the impact of cuts.

Although Mr Loughton insists that there will be no excuse for local authorities to trim children's social services, Ms Mansuri says, 'We believe that cuts in adult services such as drug and alcohol support will impact on children's social services.'

Welcoming the review, Sir Paul Ennals, chief executive of the National Children's Bureau, says, 'We know from years of research and experience that it is early intervention which proves to be the cheapest and most effective way of protecting children and reducing inequalities. But despite this evidence, early intervention services are most at greatest risk in the current recession.'

RADICAL REFORM IN HACKNEY

Three years ago, the inner London borough of Hackney undertook a radical reform of child protection. Instead of the usual hierarchy, Hackney created a system of small units, each headed by a consultant social worker.

These are highly experienced, well-trained professionals who are paid more than £40,000 a year, which means senior social workers are now working on the frontline in the borough, rather than in bureaucratic posts having no contact with the public.

The units include social workers, children's practitioners, clinicians, therapists, and co-ordinators. The teams work closely together on about 30 to 40 cases, with the consultant taking the lead.

'Social workers don't do data entry,' says Isabelle Trowler, assistant director of children's social care in Hackney and one of the architects of the change. 'The unit co-ordinators look after the administration.'

The new system has proved stable. Three years ago more than 40 per cent of posts were filled by temporary agency staff - that has dropped to 8 per cent. It also appears to be achieving its aim of keeping more children safe in their families, as the number of 'cared for' children in the borough has dropped by a third.

By keeping children with their families, the council has saved enough money to fund its radical reform programme.