Having been busy moving house, I nearly
missed some of the best news concerning child protection this year.
The Government has decided NOT to introduce
Mandatory Reporting of child abuse and neglect in England. The response to the
consultation concludes:
“Most fundamentally, the evidence and
submissions received through the consultation has not demonstrated conclusively
that the introduction of a mandatory reporting duty or a duty to act improves
outcomes for children. This must be our guiding consideration when considering
such a major reform of such a vital service.” (Paragraph 24).
I have long believed that Mandatory
Reporting is a bad idea.
That’s not because I don’t think that
practitioners should always report their concerns - I do - but because I think
it is counter-productive to punish them if they fail to do so. Almost
invariably practitioners fail to report abuse and neglect because they fail to
recognise it, not because they recognise it and would prefer to do nothing
about it!
Blaming people for making the wrong
decision breeds defensive practice and creates a climate of fear in which
people are unable to discuss their mistakes openly. That makes practice less safe.
