Serious case reviews of child abuse from 2001 to 2005 are the focus of two studies by the Department of Children, Schools and Families.
The studies concentrate on recurring mistakes such as poor communicationbetween agencies, a failure to put the child at the centre of cases,poor case supervision and a failure to intervene earlier. They alsohighlight factors that occur in many cases of deliberate child death orserious harm, such as parents' mental health problems, domestic violenceor substance abuse. The studies, entitled Analysing Child Deaths andSerious Injury through Abuse and Neglect: What can we learn? andImproving Safeguarding Practice: Study of serious case reviews 2001 -2003 are available from www.dcsf.gov.uk/research.
