October 16th, 2009 by Lianne

The official watchdog Offsted has warned that a third of the investigations into “serious” child abuse cases (this is where a serious injury or death of a child has been found, and the cause is deemed to be abuse), show weak management and a distinct lack of inter-agency coordination.

This review looked at 173 cases between April 2008 and March 2009, and found that 34% (that’s roughly 58 cases) of them were not as well examined as they should have been.

Reading between the lines, 58 children who were at serious risk, may have needed help from the state – and may not have gotten it.