SCIE media releases 2008
New ways of learning could improve children’s safety
22 October 2008
Developing a ‘systems approach’ to learning from serious case reviews could help identify why certain factors at work are likely to lead to good or poor safeguarding practice, according to a new report from the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).
Learning together to safeguard children: developing a multi-agency systems approach for case reviews, launched today at the National Children and Adult Services Conference in Liverpool, presents a systems’ model of organisational learning that can be used across agencies involved in safeguarding and child protection work. The model has been adapted from accident investigation methods used in aviation, engineering and, more recently, health.
The report and accompanying guidance outline how directors, managers and front-line practitioners can use the systems approach to identify why particular routines of thought and action take root in multi-agency practice. It does this by taking account of the many factors that interact and influence individual worker’s practice. Agencies can use this learning to find solutions to problems.
Speaking about the report and guidance, Chief Executive of SCIE, Julie Jones, said:
“This model offers children’s services a new opportunity to review how we learn from serious case reviews and, most importantly, how we can use this learning to genuinely improve practice.
“When a child has been at risk of harm, organisations must look at every factor that contributed – including training, culture, relationships and resources. Using this model of learning could help children’s services steer away from the cases of individual blame we have seen documented in the last decade.”
As well as identifying problems, the model also helps highlight good practice and share the ways of working that lead to the best outcomes. This learning will be particularly useful as practice changes as it can be used to review progress on the Common Assessment Framework and databases such as the Integrated Children’s System.
SCIE tested the model in two pilot sites in England, working closely with local area safeguarding children’s boards.
Links
- SCIE Resource guide 13: Learning together to safeguard children: developing a multi-agency systems approach for case reviews
- SCIE Report 19: Learning together to safeguard children: developing a multi-agency systems approach for case reviews
Media contacts
Annie Goss | Media and PR Manager | T: 020 7089 7117 | M: 07739 458 192 | Email: media@scie.org.uk
