Errors and mistakes in child protection: International discourses, approaches and strategies

An exploration of the various ways errors and mistakes in child protection practice have shaped child protection practices and understandings of it in specific European Countries and In California, USA. Errors and mistakes may result in either over- or under- intervention, resulting in unnecessary separation of parent and child or prolonged ill-treatment and even child deaths The book considers the responses adopted in these countries to learn from errors and mistakes, to prevent them and to respond to the harms they cause to victims of them. Whilst child protection practice can never be error-free, the selected countries vary widely in their current recognition of them; and, where recognized, have adopted different approaches focusing on regulating practice or practitioners, introducing formalized practice models, supervision of practitioners, and education and training. These differ in their effectiveness and in the adverse consequences they bring. Whilst mature systems recognize that decisions will not always be correct, and the importance of learning from them there has been (and continues to be) a wide range of responses from blame to denial.