Re: child in care deaths. Q. mandatory investigations?

[John Devaney <j.devaney@xxxxxxxxx>]

Within the United Kingdom (except Scotland which has a slightly different
system) the deaths of all children either in public care or under the
supervision of statutory child protection services should be investigated by
both the coroner and the local authority (statutory agency with
responsibility for child protection services) with responsibility for that
child.

Details about the role and remit of coroner's can be found at an excellent
resource at Kings College London:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/coroners/contents.html

Details about the review process to be carried out by local authorities are
set out in the guidance and regulations attached to both the Children Act
1989 (for England and Wales) and the Children Order 1995 (for Northern
Ireland). Essentially the two pieces of legislation are identical but make
separate provision for the different administrative structures in each
country. The purpose, scope and arrangements for Serious Case Reviews are
contained in 'Working Together to Safeguard Children 1999' which can be
accessed at:

http://www.doh.gov.uk/quality5.htm

You will be able to download the guidance and Part 8 is the section that
will be of most relevance.

In spite of this there has been disquiet within the United Kingdom that not
enough is being done to monitor child deaths and learn from them, and Child
Death Review Teams (which would have a broader remit than just children in
public care and/or under the supervision of protective services) are being
proposed. You may wish to look at the journal 'Child Abuse Review'
(published by the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child
Abuse and Neglect and the publisher Wiley) for articles on this debate,
especially  Vol. 4(5) 1995 (a special issue on child deaths) and at the
NSPCC publication 'Out of Sight: Child Deaths from Abuse 1973 -2000':

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/wwwopac/wwwopac.exe?DATABASE=catalo&LANGUAGE=0&BRIEF
ADAPL=Presentation+1&DETAILADAPL=wwwdet&%250=11165&LIMIT=50

John Devaney
Research Fellow
School of Social Work
Queen's University
7 Lennoxvale
Belfast
BT9 5BY
Northern Ireland

Tel: +028 9033 5637
Fax: +028 9066 5465

E-mail: J.Devaney@qub.ac.uk