Victoria Climbie Research Articles

Can child safeguarding training be improved?: findings of a multidisciplinary audit.

Child protection has become a very poignant subject in the UK. The Laming report into the death of Victoria Climbié led to the implementation of multidisciplinary safeguarding policies and training for healthcare professionals, social services staff and police. However, many dental practitioners, as well as other healthcare professionals, have little confidence when reporting their concerns and reducing the 'gap' between suspicion and reporting (Laming in The victoria climbie inquiry: report of an inquiry by Lord Laming, 2003. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-victoria-climbie-inquiry-report-of-an-inquiry-by-lord-laming ). Our audit aimed to identify and address the barriers of reporting safeguarding concerns amongst the hospital team. Questionnaires were distributed to staff at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare National Health Service Trust with a valid Safeguarding Children Level 3 certificate in order to assess their knowledge of safeguarding children. Changes to traditional safeguarding training (Group 1) were implemented to include a broader range of speakers, each speaking for shorter times with more personal and focused presentations (Groups 2 and 3). Three cohorts of participants were assessed including healthcare assistants, nurses, dentists, and doctors. Group 1 (n = 100) reported 64% experience of reporting compared with group 2 (n = 100) 43% and group 3 (n = 76) 51%. Confidence was higher in those with more experience in child protection. The most common barrier was the uncertainty of diagnosis. More barriers to reporting existed in the new style of training in groups 2 and 3. The scenarios were answered with appropriate concern and reporting by groups 1 and 2, however, less for group 3. Experienced and trained practitioners are more likely to refer children to child protection teams when they have concerns of abuse or neglect. Personalising training was shown to be less effective and the focus should be more on diagnosis and local protocols. Early training from undergraduate level was a unanimous request. Focused training on diagnosis and local protocols, accompanied by bespoke teaching for specific specialties would be the most constructive tool for safeguarding children. Exploring modern methods such as simulation-based training could be effective. Structured forms and local policies that are familiar to clinicians prevent omissions and encourage professional awareness.

Multi-agency child protection case conference—Simulated workshop

British Journal of School NursingVol. 12, No. 9 RepresentationMulti-agency child protection case conference—Simulated workshopDwynwen SpargoDwynwen SpargoSearch for more papers by this authorDwynwen SpargoPublished Online:11 Nov 2017https://doi.org/10.12968/bjsn.2017.12.9.466AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References HM Government. 2006. Working Together to Safeguard Children. London, The Stationary Office Google ScholarLaming H. 2003. The Victoria Climbie Inquiry: A report of an Inquiry by Lord Laming, London, Stationary Office Google ScholarLaming H. 2009. The Protection of Children in England, a Progress Report by Lord Laming. London, The Stationary Office Google ScholarMunro E. 2011. The Munro Review of Child Protection A Final Report, A child Centred System. London, Department for Education Google ScholarThe Children Act. 2004. London, The Stationary Office Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 2 November 2017Volume 12Issue 9ISSN (print): 1752-2803ISSN (online): 2052-2827 Metrics History Published online 11 November 2017 Published in print 2 November 2017 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

The benefits of multidisciplinary safeguarding meetings.

GPs are in a prime position to identify vulnerable children. Treating whole families over long periods of time, we are rewarded with valuable insights into the difficulties that some children face. However, we only see the lives of children in 10-minute snapshots and must recognise that the influences on a child’s wellbeing are many and varied. This problem is compounded by the fact that we rarely see into the homes of young families, with domiciliary visits being largely reserved for frail older people and those with multiple morbidities. We must therefore draw on the wider healthcare team to obtain as full a picture as possible of a child’s life if we are to recognise those in need. To address this need the Wyre Forest clinical commissioning group (CCG) has commissioned a Safeguarding Children Local Enhanced Service (LES). Practices are funded to hold regular multidisciplinary safeguarding meetings. ### A need to share In recent years there have been a number of tragic cases of child deaths following prolonged periods of abuse. These have been well publicised in the media. The serious case review conducted by Haringey Local Safeguarding Children Board in the wake of the Baby Peter case refers to poor communication between the GP and health visitor. The report states that inaction on the part of the GP resulted from misguided assumptions that other professionals were in a better position to act on concerns that had been raised regarding the child’s care.1 Following the death of Victoria Climbie in 2000, Lord Laming’s inquiry highlighted the important role that a GP must play in the distribution of information that might be important in determining if a child is vulnerable.2 Improvement in documentation may also be necessary; Woodman et al report the under-recording of maltreatment-related concerns in GP-held medical records. Their article proposes standardisation of …

How can we protect children from abuse by carers working for charities, humanitarian aid agencies or faith-based organizations?

How can we protect children from abuse by carers working for charities, humanitarian aid agencies or faith-based organizations?

The paramedics' role in safeguarding and protecting children and young people

In the aftermath of well–publicised child abuse cases such as the United Kingdom examples of Baby P and Victoria Climbie governments, communities and professions have begun to question their role in the protection and safeguarding of children and young people. Safeguarding, protection, abuse, neglect and need are all distinctly separate terms within their own right and yet jointly play a part in the safety assurance of children and young people. This article reviews the current literature and investigates a paramedics' role in safeguarding and protecting children and young people. It introduces future research possibilities and raises questions as to the education paramedics currently have in such an emphatic and emotive area of practice.

What isn't recorded didn't happen

British Journal of School NursingVol. 7, No. 3 Diary of a SCHPN StudentWhat isn't recorded didn't happenCatherine ForwardCatherine ForwardSearch for more papers by this authorCatherine ForwardPublished Online:16 Aug 2013https://doi.org/10.12968/bjsn.2012.7.3.147AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References Department of Health (2003) The Victoria Climbie Inquiry. www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dhdigitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_110711.pdf (accessed: 28 March 2012) Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 1 April 2012Volume 7Issue 3ISSN (print): 1752-2803ISSN (online): 2052-2827 Metrics History Published online 16 August 2013 Published in print 1 April 2012 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

An investigation into leadership in nursing and children's nursing within children's palliative care

Leadership within Children's Nursing (Myers 2005), has been acknowledged as a high ‘priority within health and social care’, organisations and services, (Bennett 2004 p 28). This priority was re-enforced by...

How to protect general practice from child protection

The tragic deaths of Victoria Climbie and Peter Connelly (Baby P) and the ensuing moral panics have driven the world of child protection into a spiral of defensiveness, posturing, and bureaucratic box-ticking that is now threatening to engulf general practice – to the detriment of both doctors and any children who might need safeguarding.1 Over the past month I have received requests from local child protection authorities for reports on 18 children. These follow a standard form, opening with a request for ‘specific medical history’ and proceeding to solicit further information under a number of headings: the ‘developmental needs of the child’ (with five subheadings); the ‘capacities of parent/carer to respond appropriately to those …

Improving Services for Children and Young People: From Gatekeeper to Navigator – The GP at the Helm?

The Kennedy report,1 commissioned to look at the cultural barriers to good care for children and young people in the NHS, was recently described in The Back Pages as being ‘prejudiced and ill-informed’.2 Indeed there is scant evidence of consultation with GPs in preparing the report but I would suggest there are other interpretations of Kennedy's conclusions which might be read as a recognition of the ‘extraordinary potential’ of GPs as a catalyst in improving services. The report is premised on the finding that children and young people are ill-served by the existing structures. It would be hard to deny this given the conclusions drawn from the inquiries into the tragic deaths of children including Victoria Climbie, Tiffany Wright, and more recently ‘baby Peter’; all of whom were known to their local health …

Challenging Mimetic Contagion: Reflecting with Girard on Blighted Young Lives

The mimetic theory of Rene Girard is examined and then applied to the learning process implicit in each stage of child protection legislation that followed the deaths of Maria Colwell, Jasmine Beckford and Victoria Climbie. The function of Victim Intelligence is explored by reflection on the ministry, passion and resurrection of Christ.

1416 Audit of Child Protection Referrals in a Tertiary Centre in the United Kingdom

Background and aims: Following the tragic death of an 8 year old girl called Victoria Climbie in 2000 due to child abuse, the British Government ordered a public inquiry to be chaired by Lord Laming into the circumstances surrounding her contact with each of the agencies and “the gross failure of the system to protect her”. The report was published in January 2003. This report had 108 recommendations. Recommendations 64-90 were healthcare related. We aimed to measure compliance with the Laming recommendations in a tertiary hospital in the United Kingdom (UK) and to compare the results with a previous similar audit. Methods: Retrospective study of case notes. All child protection referrals to social services over a period of 4 months were reviewed and 17 relevant case notes were selected for final analysis. Out of the 27 health care related recommendations, 81-90 were not within our clinical remit. 79 and 80 were considered not auditable from the case notes. The remaining 15 recommendations were audited. Results: See Image 1 Conclusions:

Enjoy and Achieve: finding opportunities to action the Every Child Matters framework to provide opportunities for children and adults to work collaboratively on an outdoor learning project

Every Child Matters (ECM), an agenda for agencies working with children, was introduced following the tragic death of Victoria Climbie in 2001. Lord Laming produced a report that proposed a new way of working for all professionals working with children. In June 2003, under a Labour government, the first Children's minister was appointed and the ECM agenda was actioned. The agenda outlined radical change for children's services and individuals working with children. In 2003 I was employed as a science teacher in a South East London mixed comprehensive. I implemented and managed the Healthy Schools initiative. At the time I struggled to find a tangible definition of ECM and what form it could take in a school setting. Now, working with students, training to become professional educators I introduce ECM as a framework. It enables individuals within an educational setting to start to share ideas that are context specific and relate directly to those it affects. In order for the framework to be successful it needs to be focussed and recognise all successes, small and large.

Poverty, violence, and child protection

Any GP working in the UK in 2001 or since could not fail to be familiar with the name of Victoria Climbie. Aged 7, Victoria was brought from Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa to live with a great-aunt in London to fulfil her parents' hope of receiving a better education. In the most tragic of circumstances she died as a result of wilful neglect and abject cruelty at the hands of the aunt and her boyfriend, both subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. A major inquiry followed her death.1 Lord Laming described the response of the health and social services who had been involved with this vulnerable child as ‘lamentable’ and his report catalogues the systematic failure of the many organisations involved with extensive recommendations for change. Eight years later how much has changed since Victoria Climbie's potentially preventable death? Disturbingly, the situation has deteriorated. Homicide statistics for children in the UK show an annual increase with the highest number of 111 deaths recorded in 2007.2 The NSPCC gives rates of approximately 1–2 child deaths every week, carried out at the hands of parents or guardians.2 Why is this so? The government's rhetoric is unequivocal. Every Child Matters 3 followed Laming's report and aimed to ‘properly protect children at risk of …

Professional Categorization, Risk Management and Inter-Agency Communication in Public Inquiries into Disastrous Outcomes

This paper suggests a conceptual shift in the way we approach information sharing by foregrounding the role of categorization. We argue that the establishment of professional categories, while being central to institutional intervention, is contingent on the complexities of everyday inter-professional encounters. It is important therefore to analyse situations in professionals report on the negotiation of categories as well as how professionals account for a failure to align sender and receiver frames. The data analysed in this paper consists two excerpts each from a public inquiry in the UK (the Victoria Climbie Inquiry) and one in Belgium (the Parliamentary Commission Dutroux). In conclusion, we address a number of themes in contemporary debates about improving interagency and within-agency communication. In particular, we advocate the promotion of language awareness rooted in interactional analysis and the need to understand the on-the-ground dynamics of evolving everyday practice as important prerequisites for bringing about and responding to change.

How much do junior staff know about common legal situations in paediatrics?

Recent high-profile medico-legal cases such as the death of Victoria Climbie and the subsequent Laming report have highlighted widespread deficiencies in child protection practice. Junior doctors are the frontline staff regularly facing issues with potentially major legal implications, including child protection, Gillick competence, consent, and professional responsibility/accountability. It is therefore important for them to be aware and understand the Children Act, common medico-legal principles and practices, particularly in the current, increasingly litigious climate. (1) To determine junior medical staff's knowledge of legal issues involved in child protection and common basic legal situations, and (2) to assess whether experience and training improved this knowledge. A standardized structured interview was developed exploring common issues with important legal implications for paediatric practice. It focused on: legal issues in child protection, the Children Act, awareness of the General Medical Council (GMC), principles of professional responsibility/accountability, the Bolam principle for good medical practice and Gillick competence. Basic demographic data were recorded. We attempted to contact all 180 paediatric junior medical staff in Wales by telephone. Interviews were conducted with 119/180 (66%) doctors: 46/56 specialist registrars (SpRs; 82%) and 73/124 senior house officers (SHOs; 59%). SpRs scored a median of 6.5 correct responses from a possible of 12 (range 3-11), compared with a median of 5 (range 1-11) by the SHOs (P < 0.0001; Mann-Whitney test). A third of SHOs and a fifth of SpRs were unaware that the GMC was the organization responsible for good medical practice in the UK. Similarly, a fifth of all juniors were ignorant of the legal age for consent. Approximately two-thirds of the SHOs and half of the SpRs were ignorant that the police and social services have the legal power to protect the child in child protection cases. Alarmingly, none of the SHOs and only 11% of the SpRs were aware of the Bolam principle. SpRs scored significantly higher on topics of Gillick competence, legal right to see medical notes, consent, Children Act, burden of proof in civil and criminal court, and on Bolam principle. They also had received training more frequently than SHOs, which, when combined with their greater experience, probably explains these statistically significant differences. Few junior staff have adequate knowledge of the basic legal principles and practice as they relate to children. Widespread deficiencies concerning the understanding of the Children Act and child protection powers exist.

Interview with Tom Jeffery Meeting the challenges in implementing Every Child Matters: the view from the Director‐General

The government's vision for children's services in England and Wales, Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003), emerged from the debate following the report of the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie (Laming, 2003). The Children Act 2004 enshrined this vision in legislation, outlining the new statutory duties and clarifying accountabilities for children's services. The Directorate for Children, Young People and Families, located within the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), is the central government body charged with overseeing the implementation of the Every Child Matters reforms.Tom Jeffery is the Director‐General of the Directorate. In this interview, he argues that having a common set of outcomes is helping to make services less patchy and more coherent, and discusses the practical mechanisms being used to encourage local innovation within national guidelines and multiagency working centred around schools. He also reflects on the role of research in these developments and the efforts being made to improve training and career development for children's services practitioners. What follows is an edited transcript of Tom Jeffery's comments.

Standards—a new baseline for interagency training and education to safeguard children?

In April 2003, a research team drawn from the nursing (Salford Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Collaborative Research) and social work (Salford Centre for Social Work Research) research centres at the University of Salford undertook a research project which explored the nature of standards of education and training in interagency work in England. This project was sponsored by the General Social Care Council (GSCC), which reported to the Department of Health and the new safeguarding children section of the Department for Education and Skills. The project came about as a direct result of the continuing difficulties in interagency collaboration which were highlighted in the Laming Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie (Lord Laming, 2003). The timescales for undertaking the work were significant. Because the project was to feed into the process of developing Keeping Children Safe (DfES et al., 2003), the Government’s direct response to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry and the Green Paper Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003), effectively the relaunch of the Government’s child care agenda, the research was to take place between April and September 2003.

Victoria Climbie Inquiry Data Corpus Project: Using the Delphi Method in Multidisciplinary Child Protection Research

This paper introduces the Delphi research method and analyses its usefulness in multi-agency research. In particular, the authors examine how it was used in a project aimed at making the material generated by the Victoria Climbie Inquiry accessible to child welfare/protection professionals through organizing the oral evidence in such a way that it can become a web-based data corpus. The thematic analysis of research data-sets usually only reflects the theoretical and analytical ideas of the researchers; however, our research demonstrates that using the Delphi method incorporates thematic ideas both from researchers and from active professionals, thereby pooling expertise. Thus we argue that the Delphi method represents a valuable tool in multidisciplinary child welfare research as it embeds a breadth of expertise throughout the research process.

Where Has Child Protection Gone?

The government introduced its ambitious plans to transform children's services as its response to the tragic death of Victoria Climbie, the victim of child abuse. However their scope is far more than improving child protection services. The aim is to develop preventive services, responding to low level concerns, so that all children are helped to achieve their potential. This article asks what the impact of this shift in emphasis will be for child protection work. It argues that the refocusing carries the risk of taking resources and professional time away from investigating serious cases of abuse and fails to address the problems in professional practice identified in the Climbie report.

A Systems Approach to Investigating Child Abuse Deaths

Summary A new systemic approach to investigating child abuse deaths is proposed, drawing on the lessons learned in engineering. Investigations have traditionally taken the approach of concluding once faults in professional practice are identified. Solutions take the form of trying to control erratic practitioners: psychological pressure to achieve higher standards, increasing formalization and guidelines to reduce the scope for individual fallibility, and stricter management surveillance. The inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie fits this model. However, thirty years of such inquiries have not led to the expected improvement in professional practice. Indeed, the Climbie report describes several agencies operating at a very low level, and failing to implement the most basic elements of good practice. A similar history of failure in engineering has led to the development of a systems approach. Human error is taken as the starting point, not the conclusion, and the investigation tries to understand why the mistake was made, by studying interacting factors in the practitioners, the resources available and the organizational context. The way this approach could be adopted in child protection work is outlined.