NCJ Number
205758
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: March-April 2004 Pages: 80-94
Date Published
March 2004
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article examines changes in child protection services in Great Britain over 30 years (1973-2003) based on official inquiries into two well-publicized and well-investigated child abuse/neglect deaths, those of Maria Colwell (1973) and Victoria Climbie (2003).
Abstract
There were similarities in the two children's deaths. Both children suffered horrendous injuries and neglect. They were of similar age and living with their primary caregivers. Although there had been frequent contact with a range of agencies over a period of time, no professional was able to intervene effectively. The reports on both deaths argue that the failures to protect the children did not result from the incompetence of individual workers, but rather from fundamental inadequacies in the systems of child protective services. The most fundamental contextual difference between the two inquiries was due to the Climbie Inquiry being the latest of many such inquiries. This latest inquiry makes it clear that the changes in the child protection system that have occurred over the past 30 years have not solved the problem, and the system continues to be part of the problem in attempting to prevent child abuse/neglect injuries and deaths. Over the years, any changes in the child protection system have failed to address changes that have made it increasingly difficult to detect and investigate child abuse/neglect cases and initiate effective protective interventions. Currently, there is considerable variation and complexity in household and family structures as well as relationships, such that the model of the traditional nuclear family that was prevalent in the period of Maria Colwell's death was no longer present when Victoria Climbie was killed by her caretaker, a "great aunt" (her parents lived in the Ivory Coast). The child protection systems in 1973 and 2003 were inadequate to protect the two children for different reasons. These differences are discussed under the topics of globalization and identity; expert knowledge; systematic care, responsibility, and accountability; "managerialization;" trust and uncertainty; and the legislative contexts. In order to address the changing context in which child abuse/neglect is occurring, this article recommends that the authority and status of frontline professionals in child protection be increased. This should be coupled with an increase in the resources necessary to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of child abuse/neglect detection, investigations, and interventions. 13 references