1. The Munro Report and the VCS-challenges
and opportunities
Learning Together to Safeguard Children
Howard Jones
2. The Munro Report and the
VCS
Background
Strong public/media/professional reaction when a child dies or is
seriously injured
Widespread belief that the complexity and associated uncertainty of
child protection work can be eradicated
general readiness to focus on professional error and individual blame
A
rather than underlying factors of systems failure
increasing focus on Performance Indicators and targets rather than
An
the quality and ef fectiveness of practice/services and the outcomes
they achieve for children
3. The Munro Report and the
VCS
8 key principles
The CP system needs to be child centred
The family is usually the best place to raise children but this needs to be
balanced with the need to protect them
Ef fective working with families is contingent on the quality of relationships
within families and with professionals
Early help is better for children
Children’s needs vary so flexible practice and service responses are required
Practitioners need to apply the latest theories and research to their work
Uncertainty and risk are inherent in child protection work
The measure of success in child protection is the ef fectiveness of the help
they receive
4. The Munro Report and the
VCS
The way forward
Early help to be made statutory ?
Timeliness of interventions
Professional judgement
Autonomy, flexibility and ef ficiency
A focus on outcomes
5. The Munro Report and the
VCS
Opportunities for the VCS
Participation and engagement
Working in partnership
Professionalism
Evidence/research based practice
Cost ef fectiveness
Early Intervention
A motivated workforce
Innovation
Grassro ots knowledge
6. The Munro Report and the
VCS
Less direction > management of risk
Less bureaucracy > more responsibility
Capacity to learn > learning organisations
Quality Assurance > EBP/OBA
Commissioning
Austerity
7. So……….
Shared values
Local knowledge
Innovation and flexibility
Relationships
Partnerships
Showing the difference we make
………equals continuity as much as radical change
8. SCIE Learning Together to
-
Safeguard Children
Why do things go wrong ?
Traditional person centred investigation-
We analyse what happened until we get to a satisfactory
explanation
Human error provides a satisfactory explanation- if only
the social worker had acted differently the tragedy would
have been averted
Conclusion – erratic people degrade safe systems so work
on safety requires protecting hem from unreliable people
9. Learning Together to Safeguard
Children
And so…….
We pressurise people into improved performance
We seek to eliminate human factors as much as possible
We increase surveillance to ensure compliance
10. Learning Together to Safeguard
Children
Sounds plausible but……
Hindsight leads us to grossly over-estimate how
reasonable actions would have seemed at the time aad
how easy it would have been for the worker to do it
It is only with hindsight that the world appear s ”linear “
because we know the chain of events that followed
11. Learning Together to Safeguard
Children
So …….
Individuals are not totally free to choose between good
and problemmatic practice
We are all part of complex multi agency systems which
shape what we do
The task in hand , the tools we use and the context in
which we work all influence our responses
12. Implications for learning from
Serious Case Reviews
A case review needs to provide a “window on the system
“ which identifies
Which factors support good practice
Which factors inadvertently make bad practice more likely
An which seeks to understand the local context and why
actions seemed reasonable at the time and to
Target recommendations at making it harder to safeguard
poorly and easier to do it well
13. Implications for learning from
Serious Case Reviews
2 key concepts
Active systems are like mosquitos – swatting hem away
one by one is futile so the best remedy is to drain the
swamp which allows them to flourish ie the ever present
latent conditions in which we work (James Reason)
“A concern with doing things right rather than doing the
right thing “
14. LTSC – what is different ?
No Terms of Reference as such
No Individual Management Reports
No single overview author
Rather :
Lead Reviewers
Review Team
Case Group
Key Practice Episodes>analysis>findings
Considerations for LSCB
15. Key factors influencing practice
Patterns of human reasoning
Family-professional interaction
The tools we use
Management systems
Short term work
Longer term interventions
……..one again though there is continuity
16. Learning from Serious Case
Reviews
SCRs are carried out when abuse and/or neglect are
known or suspected factors when a child dies or is
seriously injured – and when there are lessons to be
learned about inter-agency working
(Working Together to Safeguard Children )
17. What’s the point ?
TO LEARN ! To identify what went wrong and work to
put it right
To inform national research so that more can be
understood about patterns of behaviour – of children ,
families professionals and organisations
