Introduction to Munro's Review

Following Laming's 2009 Progress Report of the Protection of Children in England, Professor Munro was asked by the Secretary of State in June 2010 to conduct an independent review of child protection in the country. Her first report was completed in October 2010. Munro's first aim was to "understand why previous well-intentioned reforms have not resulted in the expected level of improvements". Her final report is due in April 2011 with an interim report due in January 2011. The Munro review, in conjunction with other developments such as the Social Work Reform Board, is expected to fundamentally change child protection social work practice in England, if not also elsewhere.

It is clearly of interest, not only because of the kind of radical change that's anticipated but also because Munro uses a "systems approach" both to analyse what has happened in the past and also to design an improved approach in the future.

I can't say I understand all that's been written in the report but it definitely will feature in this blog primarily because concepts of complexity, uncertainty and unintended consequences (which are complexity theory concepts as far as I understand them which will be explored later) are featured in Mono's analysis of the child protection system.

So this journey begins.