Safeguarding Vulnerable Children: Legal Support and Advice

The country has been shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Baby Finley at the hands of his parents. Recently, a safeguarding review into the death of Baby Finley concluded that there were several failings in the safeguarding process. Baby Finley was only 10 months old when he died having only been returned to the care of his parents by the courts and children’s services only 39 days earlier. He should have been one of the most protected children in England, under the scrutiny of the Courts and several safeguarding professionals, so what went wrong and what can be done to prevent similar tragedies in the future?

At Hatch Brenner, we specialise in assisting both parents and children when there are safeguarding concerns raised with Children’s Services. Parents can often feel frustrated that Children’s Services reactions and plans are disproportionate to the risks facing the children. It is true that safeguards can be extensive and may seem excessive to some parents, but they are designed to protect the most vulnerable children from future harm.

It can often be difficult to navigate a fine line of balancing the protection of a child against their right to a normal family life. However, the answer cannot be just to have the toughest restrictions in every single case and for children to be overly protected from every perceived risk.

The starting point must be that every child should be brought up within their natural family provided it is safe to do so. When there are safeguarding concerns, professionals involved in the case must consider every child’s individual circumstances and weigh up the risks that they are facing against being cared for by their own family. Professionals are not infallible; they will not always get the balance right. As solicitors for parents and children, we must be able to challenge and scrutinise professionals’ roles in the lives of children every step of the way. Sadly, there are times when the system does fail children and we need to ensure that mistakes are reflected upon to prevent any systemic failure cycle continuing.

If you are experiencing safeguarding difficulties in your family, contact Hatch Brenner Child Law team for help, advice and support.