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Serious Practice Reviews

There are many serious practice reviews you need to be aware of if you are safeguarding children.

• A Guide to Child Practice Reviews

  Throughout the UK, formal inquiries are carried out in order to understand and analyse cases where abuse or neglect is known or suspected and a child has died, or been seriously harmed. Each region has its own name for its local inquiries – Child Practice Reviews are relevant to Wales.

  Read the full report here, where you can also select another region to find out about its type of inquiry.

• A Guide to Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews

  Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPRs) are systematic reviews of serious child safeguarding cases at both a local and national level. They are used to investigate the causes of cases of abuse or neglect to identify whether there are changes that should be made at a local or national level to stop these kinds of cases from happening again.

  Read the whole report here.

• Case Review Process in UK Nations

  When a child dies or is seriously harmed as a result of abuse or neglect, a review may be conducted. Each UK nation has its own terminology and guidance for carrying out and sharing the learning from the reviews. You can learn more about them all here.

• Daniel Pelka (2013)

  Four-year-old Daniel Pelka was murdered by his mother and her partner, in March 2012, following a period of sustained abuse. Daniel was invisible to professionals, although he came into contact with doctors and arrived at school with visible injuries. 

  Read the full report here to learn of the findings.

• Public Inquiry: Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman

  The Bichard Inquiry Report of 2004 was commissioned by the government following the conviction of Ian Huntley for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2003.

  Ian Huntley worked as a caretaker at the school both girls attended. Although Huntley was vetted for the post, including police checks, this failed to identify previous allegations of sexual offences and serious incidences between 1995 and 1999 in two different geographical areas.

  Read more here.

• Public Inquiry: Victoria Climbié (2003)

  In 1998, Victoria Climbié’s parents entrusted her to the care of her great aunt, Maria-Theresa Kouao who lived in Paris. Between July 1999 and February 2000, Victoria experienced horrendous incidences of abuse and torture.

  The purpose of the inquiry was to find out why Victoria was subjected to ongoing cruelty without appropriate interventions to protect her. Read the whole report here.

• Public Inquiry: Victoria Climbié (2003)

  Peter Connelly (Baby P) died on August 2007 at 17 months of age, following months of abuse carried out by his mother, her new boyfriend and a lodger at the family home. Peter suffered more than 50 injuries and had been visited 60 times by the authorities in the eight months prior to this death.

  To read the full serious case review regarding Baby P, click here.