Thorny issue of child protection

By Mark Easton
Home Editor, BBC News

The house where Khyra Ishaq lived is now boarded up

The death of seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq from alleged neglect thrusts the issue of child protection back into the media spotlight.

We don't know yet what led to Khyra's death, but police are investigating, with the full support of Birmingham City Council.

It was the appalling maltreatment and ghastly death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie in the year 2000 that prompted a complete rethink on the way we look after vulnerable children in this country.

The inquiry that followed found systemic failure - agencies passing the buck and not communicating with each other.

Chairman Lord Laming demanded major legal and structural change, much of which has now come about.

The government passed the Children Act 2004, providing the legislative spine for developing more effective and accessible services focused around the needs of children, young people and families in England and Wales.

At its heart was the bringing together of all children's services under a single local director: education, social services, youth services and other agencies were required to form Children's Trusts.

Child B

The aims were clearly stated: the child is always the focus; do the simple things well and agencies must work together.

But the changes were not enough to prevent vulnerable children dying.

Sadly, sometimes, track is lost of the child who's in difficulty and danger Dr Maggie Atkinson Association of Directors of Children's Services

Last year, a report into the death of a four-year-old known as Child B concluded that it wasn't that the authorities didn't do enough, they simply made a bad call.

Not so much the failure of the system as a failure of judgment.

Many children live with their parents even though the authorities know they are at risk.

The difficulty is in balancing the risk of keeping a child in a family against the risk of putting a child into care.

Only in February, the authorities in Nottingham were criticised for taking away the baby son of a woman at birth.

And separately in the same month, children's services in Northamptonshire were criticised for not intervening in the case of baby Jessica Randall who had been murdered by her father.

'Off radar'

The president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, Dr Maggie Atkinson, says the huge reforms have radically improved matters, but do not mean children won't suffer abuse.

"Families that are in real crisis, in deep difficulty, can be prone to taking themselves off the professional radar and that's a real challenge," Dr Atkinson said.

"Sadly, sometimes, track is lost of the child who's in difficulty and danger."

When a child dies in shocking circumstances there will almost certainly be a Serious Case Review. A panel convenes to ask a series of questions:

• Was evidence of a risk of significant harm not recognised?
  
• Was evidence of risk shared properly between agencies?
  
• Was it acted upon appropriately?

None of this may be relevant to the case unfolding in Birmingham, but whenever a young child dies there is always bound to be soul-searching.