The multiple and competing functions of local reviews of serious child abuse cases in England

IF 2.3 2区社会学 Q1 SOCIAL ISSUES

Critical Social Policy Pub Date : 2023-12-19 DOI:10.1177/02610183231218965

Jonathan Dickens, Laura Cook, Jeanette Cossar, Cynthia Okpokiri, Julie Taylor, Joanna Garstang

引用次数: 0

Abstract

When children are killed or seriously harmed from abuse or neglect, there is pressure to ‘learn the lessons’ to prevent similar events. England has a long-established system of locally-based multi-agency reviews for this, but the recurrence of tragedies and repetitive findings raise questions about its effectiveness. Reflecting and building on our research into reviews completed between 2017 and 2021, we analyse the complexity that routine criticisms of inter-agency working disguise, and argue that reviews are shaped by their multiple, competing functions. The stated purpose is to improve practice. Within this are other overt but ambiguous goals: establishing what happened, accountability, reassurance and commemoration. Then there are covert functions: to dissipate public outrage, deflect attention from underlying causes, and distort understandings of the work by making it seem straightforward. Reviews would benefit from paying more attention to the dynamics of frontline practice and the local actions to implement the lessons.

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英格兰地方审查严重虐待儿童案件的多重和相互竞争的职能

当儿童因遭受虐待或忽视而死亡或受到严重伤害时，就会产生 "吸取教训 "以防止类似事件发生的压力。为此，英格兰拥有一套历史悠久的基于地方的多机构审查系统，但悲剧的重演和重复性的审查结果使人们对其有效性产生了质疑。我们在对 2017 年至 2021 年期间完成的审查进行反思和研究的基础上，分析了对机构间工作的常规批评所掩盖的复杂性，并认为审查是由其多重、相互竞争的功能所决定的。公开的目的是改进实践。其中还有其他公开但模糊的目标：确定发生了什么、问责、保证和纪念。还有一些隐蔽的功能：消除公众的愤怒，转移对根本原因的关注，以及通过使工作看起来简单明了来扭曲对工作的理解。如果能更多地关注一线实践的动态和当地落实经验教训的行动，审查工作将会受益匪浅。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Critical Social Policy Multiple-

CiteScore

4.70

自引率

8.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： Critical Social Policy provides a forum for advocacy, analysis and debate on social policy issues. We publish critical perspectives which: ·acknowledge and reflect upon differences in political, economic, social and cultural power and upon the diversity of cultures and movements shaping social policy; ·re-think conventional approaches to securing rights, meeting needs and challenging inequalities and injustices; ·include perspectives, analyses and concerns of people and groups whose voices are unheard or underrepresented in policy-making; ·reflect lived experiences of users of existing benefits and services;