Serious Case Reviews
When a child dies as a result of abuse the LSCB must conduct a serious case review into the involvement of organisations and professionals with the child and family.
Additionally, LSCB’s should always consider whether a serious case review should be conducted where:
- a child sustains a potentially life-threatening injury or serious and permanent impairment of health and development through abuse or neglect; or
- a child has been subjected to particularly serious sexual abuse; or
- a parent has been murdered and a homicide review is being initiated; or
- a child has been killed by a parent with a mental illness; or
- the case gives rise to concerns about inter-agency working to protect children from harm.
The purpose of serious case reviews are to:
- establish whether there are lessons to be learnt from the case about the way in which local professionals and organisations work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children
- identify clearly what those lessons are, how they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result; and as a consequence, improve inter-agency working and better safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Serious case reviews are not inquiries into how a child died or who is responsible. That is a matter for Coroners and criminal courts respectively, to determine as appropriate.
The executive summaries of serious case reviews that have been carried out by Brent LSCB since 2006 can be downloaded individually by clicking on the links below.