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CHILD PROTECTION: HISTORY & PROCESSThis page is another of our "information pages" about aspects of risk and child protection. This page is, however, a more introductory account of the history of child protection in the UK. Scotland is a bit different from England and Wales but what is said here will broadly accord across the U.K. Page 2 is about the Child Protection Process. Prior to the 19th century and the rise of "Victorian conscientiousness", child abuse didn't really exist in the public mind. Children were seen as "young adults" who could (and did) work and who could be sent to jail or even hanged if they transgressed the law. But gradually, as the social drive to educate the young took root and social reformers like the Earl Shaftesbury and Charles Dickens made their voices known, things began to change. Of note, is the formation of the NSPCC in 1889 and the Children Act of 1908. The principal body of law regarding the welfare of children remained the Poor Law which operated until 1948 (formally it ended in 1945). As recorded in our piece on Public Care & Family Contact, the legal weight was stacked very much against parents. Despite the passing of the Children and Young Person's Act of 1933 which defined several offences specifically against children (listed in Schedule One to that Act), many children suffered appalling abuse at the hands of their parents and carers. The law was geared toward physical neglect and physical harm more than anything else and categories of abuse such as sexual or emotional abuse were just not recognised at all. The death of a foster child (Denis O'Neill) in 1945 saw a great public outcry and finally the Poor Law as an operating system came to an end with the advent of the Children Act of 1948. The place of children was perceived as best been with their families although as we now know, many children in public care continued to be shipped abroad throughout the 1950s to 1970s, despite the passing of the Children and Young Person's Act 1963, and an updated Act, again in 1969. The re-organisation of Local Government in 1970, led to the formation of social services department's in 1971 and social work entered what was felt to be the "new age" of generic work with families which would solve family issues. And then Maria Colwell died in 1973. The resultant press uproar and Inquiry published in 1974, led to major changes in how child protection was practised. Case Conferences were formalised (parents were not usually allowed to attend) and the "At Risk Register" came into being. Local Authorities were compelled to set up Area Review Committees to oversee child protection in their area. This next section down to XXX is taken from our piece on Public Care & Family Contact: The 1980 Child Care Act consolidated previous childcare legislation. Section 3 of the 1980 Act enabled Local Authorities to “assume parental rights” for, amongst other things, if the parent was mentally ill and unfit to parent, had a disability causing the person to be unfit to parent or is “…of such habits and mode of life as to be unfit to have the care of the child.” This background ethos led to some Local Authorities taking an aggressive stance toward contact and permanence was often sought for children soon after they came into care with "parental rights" being assumed. Visits to residential establishments by parents were dealt with as “discretionary” by the local authority and often curtailed because of the child’s “bad behaviour,” as was “home leave” for the child. The Family Rights Group (a UK charity supporting parents) was formed as a counter pressure group to this “on high” social work arrogance. And if that sounds an extraordinary thing to say to more recent social work graduates, then I'm sorry to have to tell you that it really was like that for some children and their parents. The Directors of this company didn't read it in a book - we lived it and we have no "rosy-coloured" view of social work as something exclusively noble and splendid years ago. It often wasn't. In 1983, changes in the law were made so that proper notice to the parent of the Local Authority assumption of parental rights had to be given. This did not lead to any significant changes as the Courts usually backed the Local Authority. Throughout this time and up until the (post 1989 Children Act) 1990s the prevailing belief was that contact should occur unless rehabilitation was ruled out. The notion of an “open adoption” with post-adoptive contact was almost unheard of and often "sat upon" on the infrequent occasions it was proposed. The fiasco of the Cleveland Inquiry in 1988 had a major impact on the framing of the Children Act 1989. Parental rights were seen as having being abused by the social care agencies. Parental rights were built into the Children Act (section 2 and 3) and continue in all circumstances under any Children Act Order that can be given by a Court. Only via a deliberate Court decision under Section 34 (4) of the Children Act can contact be permanently severed although parental responsibility can now be transferred under Section 21 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. XXX The framing of the Children Act 1989 and its associated guidance (ten volumes and recently revised 2010 / 2011) was a major milestone in children and families legislation in the UK. It would not be unfair to say that it was revolutionary. In effect, the powers of social workers were stripped away and placed in the hands of the Courts. The Area Review Committees became Area Child Protection Committees (ACPCs) and which drew in representation from all local agencies that had a role in protecting children. The "At Risk Register" became the Child Protection Register and specific guidance for child protection was published (1991) under the title Working Together to Safeguard Children. Of course, children still continued to die at the hands of their parents (see Error Theory) and several revisions have been made over the years to Working Together to Safeguard Children. The most recent incarnation of this publication is 2010 and it has grown over 20 years from about 50 pages to over 500 pages. Amongst the most terrible of the child deaths was Victoria Climbie who died in 2000 at the hands of her Aunt and her manfriend. Victoria's death led to an Inquiry led by Lord Laming and the subsequent Government publication Every Child Matters (now no longer available on the Government website). The result was the Children Act 2004 and the transmutation of ACPCs into Local Safeguarding Children's Boards (LSCBs) which now have the mandatory responsibility (care of Sections 10 and 11) for child protection in their area. The Child Protection Register became incorporated into Child Protection Plans so now, although the Register itself no longer exists, a record of Protection Plans exists, each with the category of abuse the child suffers, or is likely to suffer, recorded against it. But still children continued to die (Error Theory again). The case of baby Peter Connolly (died 2009) caused - with good reason - yet another press uproar and led to another major inquiry into the practice of child protection led by Professor Eileen Munro who published her final Report, May 2011. Whether Munro's recommendations will be acted upon we have yet to see. Go to Child Protection, page 2 to read about the process of Child Protection. See also Key Sections of the Children Act You might also wish to explore our training options on Child Protection The buttons below comprise further information about aspects of risk and child protection.
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OSIRIS: Lighting the Way Forward
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