The Department for Education has announced plans to “significantly strengthen” reforms to protect children from abuse, through the creation of a new Child Protection Authority.
The proposals for a new public body, which are the subject of a 12-week consultation, will strengthen England’s child protection system by providing national oversight, ensuring that vulnerable children are not failed by the authorities who are supposed to protect them, the department said in a statement.
“At present, intelligence on harms can be fragmented, data analysis patchy, and lessons from serious cases slow to translate into practice,” it said.
“The Child Protection Authority will address these issues head on by providing strong leadership to ensure good child protection practice is embedded consistently across local areas.”
The Child Protection Authority will be tasked with tackling underlying systemic issues to help protect children from harm including sexual exploitation and abuse, domestic violence, trafficking, organised crime, and other complex risks. It delivers on a key recommendation from IICSA’s report and the problems identified by the Casey Audit into group-based child sexual exploitation.
“Every child deserves to grow up safe, and we owe it to victims and survivors to confront the problems that have allowed abuse and exploitation to go unchecked,” said Josh MacAlister, the minister for children and families.
“The creation of a Child Protection Authority is a key part of our response to the massive failings which have been exposed by the grooming gangs scandal and by horrifying child protection cases like that of Sara Sharif.
“The government is taking broad action to build a more expert, decisive and focused child protection system, and this consultation is vital as we step up protections for children, and we want to hear from practitioners, experts, families and survivors to make sure we get this right.”
Alexis Jay, author of the IICSA report, said:
“I am pleased to see the publication of this consultation on the establishment of the Child Protection Authority.
“These proposals are a positive step in the implementation of the second recommendation in my final report and reflect detailed discussions with ministers and officials. I look forward to continuing to work with the department in the design of this new national body to help keep children safe.
“I would encourage anyone with an interest in child protection to respond.”
Commenting on the proposals, The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse pointed out the number of children supported through a child protection plan due to concerns of child sexual abuse has fallen from 25% to an all-time low of 3.%% in the last 30 years.
“Today’s publication of new, more detailed data, is a welcome first step in better understanding the reasons for that startling decline,” the organisation added.
“Better data and analysis will also enhance the CSA Centre’s implementation of evidence-based resources into practice, including our Response Pathway, with initiatives such as our practice leads programme, so we can support professionals to better identify and respond to concerns of child sexual abuse.”
The consultation is proposing that the new body will have powers to hold organisations including safeguarding partners to account on child protection. This will involve working closely with inspectorates and partners such as healthcare professionals, social workers and the police to improve practice. Frontline enforcement in criminal cases will remain with the police.
The government is consulting on the powers the Child Protection Authority should have, as well its organisational model and governance structure, shaped by feedback from the sector. The Establishing a Child Protection Authority consultation will run for 12 weeks.
The Department for Education is also publishing new analysis and data on child sexual abuse and exploitation in response to a recommendation in Baroness Casey’s Audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, recognising that transparency is essential in maintaining accountability.
One Response
The idea sounds good, however, at what point will they interact with an investigation that appears to be good. Where which infact it is just reiterating the same steps over and over.
The current legislation does not go far enough in safe guarding children who are subject to persistent CPP’s. The parent(s) given time to get thier actions together, and learn how to parent properly, they pass all the tests then six months later they are back doing the same things that caused CPP the first time.
Why are these parents allowed to do this, and get away with it, the damage is being compounded, every time the children are left with the offenders.
The offenders are then given supervised ( by family) access, which is not supervised at all. They cause even more damage, the only recourse being to return to court, which is again helping the neglectful parent to damage the child/children more.
We need to have a one and done policy, while ever we leave our children with abusers, we are not protecting them.