The final Munro report on Child Protection (published in May 2011) is recommending reduced prescription in the way that social work is recorded on the IT systems supporting and facilitating practice – with a higher degree of professional discretion as to what is recorded, when and the local formats used for this purpose. Munro is specifically recommending: • Simplification of Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010) and The Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and their families (20...

The government reponse to Munro states that "the changes will not be tinkering around the edges" but a whole new approach to working with vulnerable children and their families.   It goes on to say that there will be changes to Working Together in terms of the timescales for completing assessment and the need for both the initial and core assessment.  I am sure that these will be changes welcomed on the ground and that social workers will see these announcements as the start of al...

The Final Report of the Munro Review of Child Protection, A child-centred system has been published today. Professor Munro’s analysis finds that local areas should have more freedom to design their own child protection services and that ‘one-size-fits-all approach’ to child protection is preventing local areas from focusing on the needs of the child. You can download the report from the Munro Review website.

Having spent yesterday digesting the interim report my first practical thoughts were about time.  I have been practising in this country for 10 years and spent five of it trying to implement a system and the next five trying to make it work for children and identifying where it was not.  Not all of the current system is bad but taken in total it is clearly not working.  None of what I read yesterday was news to me, working as I do with hundreds of soc...

Too much emphasis on procedures, regulations and inspections.  The interim report published today highlights the need for social workers to spend more time with children. Download the Munro report here.

The first part of the Munro review was published this week.  It holds some interesting hints as to future direction and takes the time to use a systemic approach to examine the key issues.

This report highlights aspects of best practice in the 10 children’s services judged by Ofsted in 2009 to be performing excellently; this is the highest of four ratings. In these highest-performing local authorities, the overall effectiveness of a very large majority of inspected services and settings was good or excellent. This report analyses some of the key factors that led to their high performance and illustrates these with practical examples.

Westminster Council is planning to set up a staff-led arm's length organisation for its children's services department as part of government plans to test ways of allowing public sector workers to take more control over delivering services, reports the Children & Young People Daily Bulletin.

Ofsted inspectors have found that young offenders and young people at risk in England are often placed in secure accommodation many miles from home, reports the BBC. In its report, Admission and discharge from secure accommodation, Ofsted urges the Youth Justice Board to review the number of secure accommodation placements so young people can be held in settings closer to their families. The watchdog also makes a series of recommendations to local authorities.

Vulnerable children are being ‘damaged’ by delays in care proceedings in England and Wales, according to the children’s charity Barnardo’s.  

ContactPoint was switched off at noon on 6 August 2010. 

Bursting at the seams, a new report by the Fostering Network, shows the care system is under unprecedented pressure due to the chronic shortage of foster carers.  

On the third anniversary of the death of Baby Peter and a week after a report into the death of Kyra Ishaq, Unison is calling for two social workers to undertake each child protection investigation to help prevent further tragedies. 

The General Medical Council is asking all those involved in child protection, or who have knowledge and experience about the issues, to submit evidence about doctors' roles and responsibilities in child protection.  

Safeguarding and looked after children: national results for children’s social work practitioners survey 2010

This 2010 survey on safeguarding and looked after children paints the national picture of social work practitioners’ views for the first time.

The Education Secretary Michael Gove has invited John Dunford to conduct an independent review of the office, role and functions of the Children's Commissioner for England.

Tim Loughton Children’s Minister spoke at the East of England DCS conference.

Key measures of the budget will affect young people and families with an additional £40bn in savings coming from welfare reform. The chancellor says that policies in will not have a significant affect on child poverty over the next two years.

The government has announced it is committed to supporting practitioners working with vulnerable children and to reducing bureaucracy. As of this week they have decided to maintain ContactPoint, pending firmer decisions on what should come after it. 

A serious case review of the abduction of Shannon Matthews has found that there was ‘little leeway’ for social services and other agencies to intervene.