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Abstract
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The University of Edinburgh/NSPCC Centre for UK-wide Learning in Child Protection (CLiCP) is a research centre based within the School of Education at the University of Edinburgh. It conducts research and provides analysis and commentary on child protection policy across the UK: in each jurisdiction and UK-wide.
A major focus of CLiCPs work involves the tracking and analysis of the content and direction of child protection policy and developments across the UK. We intend to build incrementally towards a general overview of child protection in the UK over a two year period (2008-2010) by producing a series of papers, each based on analysis of a key aspect of child protection.
This paper considers child death and Serious Case Review (SCR) processes across the UK. Finding out what happened when a child dies is a basic human right now enshrined in the Human Rights Act 1998. Processes of review are, therefore, crucial. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland do not have the same processes and it is important to consider the differences. This paper outlines, compares and contrasts the processes which have existed since 1989 in England and Wales, 2003 in Northern Ireland and 2007 in Scotland to review serious cases. In addition to processes for reviewing serious cases some areas of the UK have more recently introduced, or are planning to introduce, wider processes for review of all child deaths, or all unexpected deaths and the paper also sets out these new developments. Lastly it considers the effectiveness of both serious case review processes and wider child death review processes.
KW: Child Death Review
Available:
http://www.clicp.ed.ac.uk/publications/briefings/Briefing%205%20-%20Child%20Death%20SV.pdf |