Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews

Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews:

Working Together 2018: “Sometimes a child suffers a serious injury or death as a result of child abuse or neglect. Understanding not only what happened but also why things happened as they did can help to improve our response in the future. Understanding the impact that the actions of different organisations and agencies had on the child’s life, and on the lives of his or her family, and whether or not different approaches or actions may have resulted in a different outcome, is essential to improve our collective knowledge. It is in this way that we can make good judgments about what might need to change at a local or national level.

The purpose is for agencies and individuals to learn lessons that improve the way in which they work, both individually and collectively, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Newham Safeguarding Children Partnership (NSCP) has a sub-committee which oversees and quality assures all the reviews undertaken by the Board, and provides advice on whether the criteria for conducting a review have been met. Any professional or agency may refer a case to the NSCP for consideration. The Independent Chair makes the decision of whether to instigate a review.

After the completion of a practice review, there is now an expectation that final report is published in full. The report will include information on the review process, key issues arising from the case and recommendations / key issues for the NSCP to consider. Additional information and guidance in relation to Practice Reviews can be found in the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018.

In addition to practice reviews, the NSCP also undertakes Multi-Agency Learning Reviews. These reviews do not meet the criteria, but are considered to offer good opportunities to identify relevant learning and ways in which multi-agency practice to safeguard children and young people can be improved locally.

All learning arising from Practice Reviews are disseminated across the workforce at briefing sessions and embedded into all training.