Source: Child Safeguarding Review Panel published on this website Tuesday 11 March 2025 by Jill Powell
The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has today (11th March 2025) published a report about 53 children from Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage backgrounds who died or were seriously harmed between January 2022 and March 2024. These children were subject to horrific abuse, including sexual abuse, fatal assault and neglect, with 27 children dying as a result.
The report sought to understand the specific safeguarding needs of children from these specific ethnic backgrounds and how agencies helped to protect them before it was too late. It has revealed a significant silence in talking about race and racism in child safeguarding, with many local areas failing to acknowledge the impact of race, ethnicity and culture.
The key findings include:
- Limited Attention to Race and Ethnicity: the analysis reveals a concerning lack of focus on race, ethnicity, and culture in both safeguarding practice and reviews. This oversight has resulted in insufficient critical analysis and reflection on how racial bias impacts decision-making and service offers to children.
- Silence on Racism: the report identifies a pervasive silence and hesitancy to address racism and its manifestations. This silence renders the safeguarding needs of Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage children invisible, both in practice and in the system for learning from reviews.
- Missed Opportunities: in failing to acknowledge race, racial bias and racism, the current system misses many opportunities to learn from incidents where Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage children have been seriously harmed or died. This failure to see the totality of children’s lives or to scrutinise how racial bias may have affected decision-making leaves children vulnerable and at risk of harm, without the necessary support and protection.
Risk-assessment and decision-making is a common theme across all safeguarding reviews, but this analysis has highlighted specific issues in relation to race. For example, in 19 reviews risk had been at least partially recognised, but this had not translated into action. This included several examples about girls from Asian and Mixed Asian Heritages who made disclosures about sexual abuse, but these appeared either to have been disregarded as untrue or were not carefully followed up.
In one review family members had vocalised that they perceived practitioners to be racist. However, the review appeared to distance itself from any possibility of racism by noting that practitioners had been mindful of the ethnicity of the family. The review then concluded these accusations were groundless, but did not provide evidence about whether the claims had been investigated or provide any detail about how this judgement had been made.
The Panel’s report contains a number of recommendations for local areas so they can better protect Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage children who are at risk of harm. The lead recommendations include:
- Acknowledging and Challenging Racism: local leaders should ensure that appropriate internal structures are in place to support practitioners to recognise, discuss and challenge internal and institutional racism.
- Empowering Practitioners: creating conditions that empower practitioners to have conversations with children and families about race and identity. This includes building skills and confidence and ensuring there are safe opportunities for self-reflection within teams and in supervision to acknowledge their own biases.
- Reviewing Local Strategies: Child Safeguarding Partnerships should review their local strategies and approaches to addressing race, racism, and racial bias in their work with Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage children.
These recommendations are a crucial step towards creating a more inclusive and effective safeguarding system that recognises and addresses the unique challenges faced by Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage children.
Annie Hudson, Chair of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel said:
“Racism is insidious, pervasive and deeply embedded in society. The recognition of racism and racial bias as a societal issue is a crucial step in reflecting on, and learning more about, how Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage children are protected from abuse and neglect.
“The Panel recognises the important work being undertaken in some safeguarding partnerships to address race and racism and to develop anti-racist practice approaches. However, evidence from this analysis indicates that too often critical questions are avoided, evaded and sidestepped.
“As part of the analysis, the Panel examined its own role and biases in our work with safeguarding partnerships and in national reviews. We are clear we have more to do and want this report to contribute to local and national discussions, building collective knowledge and understanding.
“This is essential if we are to ensure that Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage children are safeguarded and receive the help and support they need to thrive and have happy and safe lives.”
