Child safety: Inconsistencies in safeguarding – review

There are inconsistencies in child safeguarding in Wales, the care inspectorate has said.

There were 32 reviews in progress in May about children who died or were seriously hurt due to abuse or neglect.

Care Inspectorate Wales’ (CIW) interim review into child protection, coming after several deaths in England and Wales, said it was “generally good”.

The Welsh government said it was committed to making improvements.

Gillian Baranski of CIW said: “The initial findings have shown good practice exists however this needs to be applied consistently both locally and nationally.

“We need to ensure that the voice of the child is central to decision making.”

The report said the understanding and assessments of a child at risk of experiencing significant harm was mostly good, but not “consistently understood” between councils and other agencies, such as the police.

Effective information sharing also varied across the country, it added, while collaborative working was evident but did not always lead to consistent oversight of frontline practice.

Overall, the report said the decision-making process about registration and deregistration was properly followed.

Ms Baranski added that the CIW was keen to hear more from children and young people to “strengthen work” and its final review is due to be published in September.

Tracey Holdsworth, assistant director at NSPCC Cymru, welcomed the report, saying: “It is vital that every child receives the support and protection they need, and no child goes under the radar.

“These findings must be acted on without delay, but for this to happen we need to see investment in children’s services and ensure practitioners, who establish if a child is at risk or has experienced significant harm, are supported.”

The Welsh government said it was “committed to making continuous improvement and are working with the inspectorate to address the issues raised”.