Victoria Marten child safeguarding review – key recommendations
Lessons can be learned from the “extreme case” of the death of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon’s baby, the chairman of a major safeguarding review said.
A national review launched after the death of newborn Victoria Marten published its report on Thursday which set out recommendations for improving safeguarding of families and vulnerable children.
Panel chairman Sir David Holmes said: “I think we have to acknowledge that the baby Marten case is an extreme case – the family circumstances were extreme, there was so much going on in this family.”
The review noted that baby Victoria’s case involved a range of challenges including domestic abuse, her father’s criminal past, their refusal to engage with authorities and multiple moves around the country.
But Sir David said there are lessons which can “help the whole system really learn from this case and be able to absorb that learning into what practitioners are doing every day”.
Here, the Press Association looks at the key recommendations of the review.
– Improved focus on understanding some parents’ lack of engagement with social services
The review noted Marten and Gordon’s “persistent reluctance to engage” with social services but there was no “collective thinking” about how to address this among agencies.
Speaking to reporters, panel member Sally Shearer said: “What we have found is that agencies need to focus much harder on understanding why parents might not be engaging. It’s not always just a deliberate refusal to engage.
“There’s often underlying factors – for example, services might be quite difficult for them to be able to access, but also, they may be processing unresolved grief, particularly where there have been repeat removals, they may have trauma from previous events in their lives or they may have a mistrust of services.”
– Safeguarding for pregnant mothers and unborn babies
In England, women have the legal right to an unassisted birth, meaning agency practitioners have “no right” to be made aware of a pregnancy and a foetus has no legal rights until birth, the report notes.
The panel said there is a need for a balance between a mother’s autonomy and protecting the child and recommended more safeguarding guidance to address this.
– Strengthened requirements for serious offenders
The review called for the Government to tighten registration requirements in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which would mean sex offenders have to notify police of the name of any new partner and if they or their partner falls pregnant.
It also said services such as probation should work more closely with children’s services to ensure information around the risks of serious harm to a child are known.
– Improving continuity of care for families who move
Currently, when families move from one local authority area to another, the responsibility for the protection of that child lies with the authority where they live.
The report recommends more robust and formal procedures are put in place for information to be shared with the new local authority when a child moves, including a full case summary and a risk assessment, and that this is completed within a set time frame.
Published: by Radio NewsHub