Learning from review of child deaths and serious abuse cases in the UK (Seminar report)

This report provides a summary of the seminar “Learning from Review of Child Deaths and Serious Abuse Cases in the UK” hosted by the Centre in March 2009. The report includes an overview of the presentations as well as highlighting key messages emerging from the discussion. The recent high profile child death cases - Baby Peter in England, Brandon Muir in Scotland and cases elsewhere in the UK - have again brought into sharp relief the issue of how best to review child deaths and serious cases; and effect learning from their findings. The seminar on Child Death and Serious Abuse Review focused on examining similarities and differences between key themes emerging across the UK; processes in different parts of the UK; their efficacy; and their effectiveness as a learning tool. Presentations were given by senior academics and government officials from across the UK.