Recent scandals have revealed serious weaknesses in the child protection system which are bringing social workers into disrepute. Children's Services is the agency with responsibility for the assessment of, and support to, families where there is known abuse or neglect or there is a serious risk of this. However, the 'safeguarding' approach which now underpins practice is only effective in engaging families with children who have less extreme unmet needs and parents who are willing to accept help. Parents with major deficiencies in their capacity for parenting are often the ones who are most successful in evading 'safeguarding' interventions from children's services.

Ethan Ives-Griffiths died on 16 August 2021 after suffering a catastrophic head injury. His grandparents were found guilty of his murder and his mother found guilty of causing or allowing his death. Sara Sharif was murdered by her father and stepmother on 8 August 2023. These two cases should act as a powerful reminder to children's social workers of their professional duty to protect a child at serious risk within the family.

Both families appear to fit into the group of families with the worst outcomes from social work intervention that was highlighted in research published in 1997. This type of case was characterised by a high level of violence within the family, a range of other concerns about poor parenting standards and often disturbed behaviour apparent in the children. The research showed there was also a lack of clarity about how these families should be handled and little assistance given to the social worker by the initial child protection conference or reviews. The problems in these families were regarded as deeply entrenched. Low levels of service were provided and efforts to monitor the children's safety were not sustained.

The favoured practice model of children's social workers today is supportive and strengths-based. Obviously, with families who are struggling and need help this approach can be effective in enabling parents to care for their children better and in keeping children safe. However, the 'safeguarding' practice taught at University may be failing to give students the knowledge and skills required when they have to work with more challenging families. Inexperienced social workers may not see what is really going on in the family and underestimate the risks to the children.

Unfortunately, there has been a sustained misunderstanding of the section 47 duty and abandoning of training for it. Social workers should never forget that they are working in a child protection agency. They have a legal duty to investigate if it appears the child may be at risk of significant harm. Then, if the child requires immediate protection, they must apply to the court for an order that allows them to remove the child from the family. However, some children are too young, or too fearful, to tell anyone about the abuse they are being subjected to. It is obvious that good child protection work is dependent on the capacity of social workers to recognise the dangers to a child in the family. Managers should be in no doubt that they are working in a child protection agency and able to recognise, during supervision of the social worker, when a line has been crossed and an application to the court for a legal order is necessary.

Obviously, social workers and their managers who have been alerted to safeguarding concerns about a child need as much information about the family background and details of the child's earlier life as possible. Without this they will find it difficult to develop a sound understanding of the child's current difficulties. It seems that the social workers responsible for Ethan and and Sara were at a disadvantage due to fact that the records about the child and the family background were difficult for them to access. In hindsight, it is obvious that both the above cases required a careful and systematic approach to obtaining information about the child's early life and a more comprehensive understanding of the dangers posed by people living in the household who had a history of violence.

Children's social workers who receive a 'safeguarding' referral need a good understanding of their legal responsibilities. There is a difference between a standard risk assessment and the approach required in the conduct of section 47 enquiries. In Surrey Children's Services the response to concerns about Sara being removed from school to be home educated was totally inadequate. There must have been a great deal of information on their records that should have raised concerns. This would have shown the need to carry out a section 47 investigation.

The appropriate use of authority is of central importance in child protection work. Social workers are required to make use of their statutory powers whilst also maintaining the capacity for working in partnership with parents and building a positive relationship with children. It is a difficult balancing act. Without detailed information from agency records about the nature of the risks to the child their task is made more difficult and this can obviously trip up even the more experienced social worker.

Hilary Searing

Further Reading

Good Practice In Section 47 Enquiries by Julie Archer (2016), in Risk in Child Protection, London: Jessica Kingsley, pp 285-308. A useful guide to good practice for social workers and their managers.

Social Work Practice: Section 47

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