Final report by the Munro Review is published

Family Law Week

Review urges more freedom for local child protection services

England- Professor Eileen Munro has completed her review of child protection practice and her final report has been published by the Department for Education.

Professor Munro recommends that local areas should have more freedom to develop their own effective child protection services, rather than focusing on meeting central government targets. She concludes that a one-size-fits-all approach to child protection is preventing local areas from focusing on the child.

She says that the Government and local authorities should operate in an open culture, continually learn from what has happened in the past, trust professionals and give them the best possible training.

Her recommendations signal a radical shift from previous reforms which she believes were well-intentioned but resulted in a tick-box culture and a loss of focus on the needs of the child. Currently local areas are judged on how well they have carried out certain processes and procedures rather than what the end result has been for children themselves.  FULL STORY

On the other hand, I say flog the "professionals" and throw them in prison.