Errors and mistakes in child protection: International discourses, approaches and strategies By KayBiesel, JudithMasson, NigelParton and TarjaPösö (eds.). Bristol: Policy Press, 2020. ISBN 978‐1‐4473‐5070‐5, 296 pp., 26.99 GBP (pb), 40 GBP (hb)

Abstract

Reading this engaging book, I was reminded of an incident in which I, as a social work practitioner and academic, presented a case study to the head of child protection services in Israel. The case involved a high-risk crisis situation that ended with the children remaining at home with their mother. When I completed my presentation, the senior social worker remarked, ‘that's a piece of good practice, but in the current era, if something had happened to one of the children, you would have been grilled (i.e., interrogated intensely)’. This incident exemplifies one of the main underlying assumptions of the book: that errors and mistakes in child protection are socially (and, I would add, politicly) constructed concepts rather than objective or universal ones. Hence, what is considered an error or mistake in a specific context may not be seen in such a way in another. Moreover, the same action or inaction may be judged very differently depending on the outcomes. Considering that in the context of child protection systems mistakes and errors can have life-altering consequences, the importance of understanding and conceptualising policies, practices and public perceptions regarding them is clear. The book addresses this complexity from a cross-national perspective, employing a constructivist approach. Its first two chapters contextualise different perceptions and explanations of errors and mistakes and provide a framework for defining and analysing them. These chapters are important in differentiating between errors—i.e., deviations from legal or professional duties and standards—and mistakes, i.e., actions or inactions based on misbeliefs and misunderstanding. The following 11 chapters present a critical analysis of the construction of errors and mistakes in child protection systems across various countries (England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy and the USA). Each of these chapters begins with a valuable and informative general overview of the child protection system in the country under discussion and continues with an analysis of the construction of errors and mistakes in that country. Although all the chapters revolve around errors and mistakes and share a constructionist approach, their structures and foci vary, and the different authors of the chapters employ a variety of analytical and conceptual frameworks. The authors of the final chapter did not settle for a summary of the various insights, findings, and concepts presented in the different chapters. Rather, they present a comparative analysis that provides readers with a new conceptual framework for understanding different aspects of the issue at hand. These include: (a) an outline of the triggers for national discussions about errors and mistakes in child protection—mainly serious or fatal cases (e.g., the Baby P. inquiry in England and the case of Savanna in the Netherlands) and public inquiries of institutional abuse (e.g., the Kilkenny incest investigation in Ireland); (b) six kinds of key responses to errors and mistakes, including, e.g., a scandalisation response that involves media outrage and the blaming of individuals or a regulation response that focusses on limiting social workers' discretion and developing procedures and standard guidelines; (c) three strategies countries employ to avoid or handle errors and mistakes. Here the authors emphasise the importance of responding in an ethical way that supports practitioners' use of effective tools and guidelines while considering service users' perspectives to learn from mistakes and improve practice; (d) an analysis of the relationship between a country's child protection orientation (Gilbert et al., 2011) and its responses to errors and mistakes. I found this section especially important because it makes it possible to link many of the difficulties and complexities workers face in their everyday work to the wider and more political context of social policy. In this context, it is worth noting that with a few minor exceptions, the book largely overlooks the ways in which the social inequality that permeates various child protection systems across the world (Bywaters et al., 2019) is manifested in relation to error and mistakes. In sum, this book provides a comprehensive and insightful discussion and analysis of errors and mistakes in child protection. Its rich and informative content inspires reflection on the social and political mechanisms that construct not only errors and mistakes, but many other dimensions of child protection policy and practice across the world.