By Mark Smulian
13 April 2011
Social workers have paid too little attention to children’s views and to adults with potentially useful information on abuses, an Ofsted report on serious case reviews has found.
It looked at 67 reviews carried out between April and September 2010, which involved 93 children, 39 of whom died.
Ofsted head Christine Gilbert said: ‘It is shocking to see that too often children in vulnerable situations are not heard by those who should be looking out for their interests.
‘I hope all involved in the protection of children will read [this] report and take stock of the importance of observing and listening to children, using different approaches to encourage children to speak openly and taking account of those who speak on their behalf.’
The report Thevoice of the child: learning lessons from serious case reviews
noted cases where fathers, grandparents, neighbours and members of the public ‘could have helped to protect children had they been taken seriously’. Ofsted’s analysis of the reviews found that practitioners often failed to make the connection between the difficulties they experienced when trying to see a child, and the likelihood that they were experiencing stressful and abusive behaviour.
Some social work practitioners focused too much on the parents, in particular vulnerable ones, losing emphasis on a child’s right to protection.
The most common faults were that children were too infrequently seen by professionals, and were not asked about their views and feelings.
But Ofsted’s role in assessing serious care reviews has itself been controversial.
Professor Eileen Munro’s interimreport for the Department for Education on child protection recommended in February that Ofsted should lose this responsibility.
She said then: ‘Children’s social care departments are paying so much attention to complying with guidance and regulations from government, and to meeting the criteria that they consider will produce a good rating from Ofsted, that they are paying insufficient attention to the children who need their help.’
