Moving on from Munro: Improving Children's Services

Description

Four years after the publication of the influential Munro Report (2011) this important publication draws together a range of experts working in the field of child protection to critically examine what impact the reforms have had on multi-agency child protection systems in this country, at both local and national level. With a particular emphasis on early intervention, vulnerable adolescents and effective multi-agency responses to young people at risk, specialists from policy and practice alongside academics in different areas of children's services consider progress in improving child protection arrangements, in transforming services and the challenges that remain. Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs), the statutory bodies responsible for local scrutiny of child protection arrangements, are now subject to Ofsted inspection and this publication considers the role of LSCBs, how services should respond to the most vulnerable children and what 'good' services look like.

Maggie Blyth is currently Independent Chair of Kent and Hampshire Safeguarding Children Boards. For the last nine years she has held a ministerial appointment as Member of the Parole Board for England and Wales. She has also been a Member of the Health Professions Council for three years. Maggie was formerly a senior civil servant at the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales with oversight of practice improvement for all youth offending services and juvenile secure establishments across both countries. She is co-author (with Enver Solomon) of Effective safeguarding for children: What next after Munro (Policy Press, 2012)

"At a time when the public discourse is often seeking black and white answers to high profile child protection failings this volume provides policy makers and practitioners with a measured and reflective analysis that is much needed."---Enver Solomon, Director of Evidence and Impact, National Children's Bureau. "This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding or influencing the future of child protection in England. Our services and professional ethos approach yet another crossroad, defined not least by individual tragedies more so than the unspoken successes. This collection of essays offers cool thought and consideration into a heated and emotive landscape."---John Coughlan, Director of Children's Services, Hampshire County Council. "Keeping the ship afloat on the turbulent tides of multi-agency child safeguarding has never been more challenging. This publication creates a precious space in which we can reflect on the impact of the external influences and cultural shifts, which have the potential to both enable and disable our best efforts to respond to the recommendations of the Munro review."---Sue Woolmoore, independent child protection specialist.