Hayes, Davy, Sen, Robin, Rees, Alyson  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2363-4965 and Devaney, John
2026.
The child protection system in the United Kingdom.
Connolly, M. and Katz, I., eds.
Trajectories of Change in Child Protection Systems,
Switzerland:
Springer Nature,
pp. 135-155.
(10.1007/978-3-032-26988-1_11)
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Abstract
This chapter analyses the United Kingdom’s four distinct but related child protection systems, showing how each balances an enduring Individual-Formal orientation with repeated efforts to expand family support and prevention. It traces common drivers of reform—high-profile abuse inquiries, austerity, rising demand, and rights-based agendas—while detailing divergent trajectories in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England, particularly around devolution, poverty, and political visions of the state’s role. Despite legislative innovation and investment in early help, all four systems struggle to reduce care rates, social gradients in intervention, and cycles of review-driven, first-order change. The chapter concludes that sustainable rebalancing towards more communitarian, justice-oriented practice will require systemic, long-term, locally anchored reform rather than reactive restructuring after scandals.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > School of Social and Spatial Sciences |
| Publisher: | Springer Nature |
| ISBN: | 9783032269874 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Aug 2026 10:17 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/189129 |
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