Since their introduction in 1991, Part 8 case reviews have shown that at least 100 children die each year in the UK as a result of neglect or abuse.Children are more likely to be killed in their own home by members of their own family than anywhere else or by anyone else.
BridgeALERT, a new information-gathering schedule to help professionals better determine the risk of dangerous behaviour towards children by their carers and to take appropriate action, is to be launched by the influential Bridge Child Care Development Service on Friday 18 September.
The schedule draws on The Bridge’s wealth of experience of inquiries into child deaths - including the Charmaine and Heather West, Paul, and Ricky Neave cases - and on a new-multi-disciplinary review of the existing international research and literature carried out for The Bridge by the independent Policy Studies Institute (PSI).
According to The Bridge, while the majority of child death inquiries do not blame any one individual or agency for failing to prevent death, there is clear evidence that the danger may have been averted had one agency taken responsibility for collating alerting information. The failure to do so meant that the information available did not impact on the professional perceptions of risk or danger. These findings prompted The Bridge and PSI to look more closely at the failures to predict danger and to investigate the possibility of improving practice by developing a new information-gathering questionnaire, BridgeALERT, for use by multi-disciplinary professionals working to protect children.
BridgeALERT seeks to ensure that key indicators of dangerous care for children will be noted and properly considered. The literature review upon which the schedule is based explored factors that correlate with dangerousness in three categories - the situation, the carer and the child. The resulting BridgeALERT schedule is designed to complement existing child protection procedures and aid decision-making by: focussing attention on the most critical risk factors; presenting an approach that allows decision-making criteria to be shared amongst professionals; and taking a dynamic rather than static approach which is able to accommodate new information as it arises.
John Fitzgerald OBE, Chief Executive of The Bridge, said:
"Around 100 children a year die as a result of abuse or neglect. Whilst there is no fool-proof way of preventing all child deaths, BridgeALERT, together with other materials coming out of the Dangerous Care project, is a step down the road which will enable professionals to begin reducing the risks."Dr Ann Hagell, who undertook the literature review which fed directly into BridgeALERT for the Policy Studies Institute, said:
"The literature review provides the much-needed information to drive evidence-based practice. Joined-up government won’t work without joined-up expertise, and the review brings together information from a range of fields, applying it directly and uniquely to child protection."Renuka Jeyarajah Dent, Deputy Chief Executive at The Bridge, who edited a multi-contributed volume exploring the issues addressed by BridgeALERT, added:
"Inquiries into the deaths of children at the hands of their abusive carers have all suggested that, had information been brought together in one place, it might have alerted people to dangerous care. This is the thinking behind the BridgeALERT scheme."Contacts:
Renuka Jeyarajah Dent, The Bridge Child Care Consultancy Service, 0171 704 2386
Michelle McNally or Jo O’Driscoll, Policy Studies Institute, 0171 468 0468
Dr Ann Hagell, Policy Research Bureau, 0171 256 6300
Notes to Editors:
- Dangerous Care: Working to Protect Children edited by Renuka Jeyarajah Dent, a multi-contributed volume containing a range of issues related to the development of BridgeALERT, is available from The Bridge Child Care Consultancy Service on 0171 704 2386. Other BridgeALERT training materials are also available.
- Dangerous Care: Reviewing the Risks to Children from their Carers by Dr Ann Hagell, a review of the existing literature and research, published by the Policy Studies Institute, is available from Grantham Book Services on 01476 541080.
- Bridge ALERT has been piloted in five Area Child Protection Committees and one foster care setting, and the risk factors it identified were validated by a multi-disciplinary group of professionals as being relevant to child protection. It is part of a national ‘Dangerous Care’ project being undertaken by The Bridge in collaboration with six Area Child Protection Committees, Scope, The Integrated Support Programme and the Baring Foundation.
- Dr Ann Hagell undertook the literature review on behalf of The Bridge while a Senior Fellow at the Policy Studies Institute. She is currently a Co-Director of the Policy Research Bureau.
- BridgeALERT is to be launched and presented at the Dangerous Care Conference on 18 September at Church House, Westminster. Speakers will include Dr Sean Cameron, Coordinator for the Doctorate in Educational Psychology, University College London; Brian Latham, Director of Social Services, South Tyneside; John Fitzgerald OBE, Chief Executive, The Bridge; David Carson, Director, Behavioural Science and Law Network, University of Southampton; Renuka Jeyarajah Dent, Deputy Chief Executive, The Bridge; Dr Ann Hagell, Co-Director, Policy Research Bureau; and a panel of local authorities piloting products from the Dangerous Care project. Press welcome: for more information, please contact The Bridge on 0171 704 2386.
- PSI and The Bridge are registered charities and are not associated with any political party, pressure group or commercial interest.
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