The dialogical-systemic case laboratory - a method for the analysis of serious or fatal cases in child protection

In Germany in 2007 the five year old Lea-Sophie died following serious neglect, despite the fact that concerns about her situation had been notified to the Jugendamt (child welfare department) several times and there had been... [ view full abstract ]

In Germany in 2007 the five year old Lea-Sophie died following serious neglect, despite the fact that concerns about her situation had been notified to the Jugendamt (child welfare department) several times and there had been a history of contacts between Lea-Sophie's (grand-)parents and the Jugendamt and a number of children's and family service agencies. The case received considerable media attention and sparked a wide-ranging debate on quality and errors in the German child protection system. The federal government and local authorities launched programs, and legal and organisational reforms designed to raise quality and provide opportunities to learn from errors in child protection. This paper reports on a project whose objectives had been twofold: to reconstruct the Lea-Sophie case and to develop an innovative method of learning from serious cases in child protection that goes beyond traditional serious case reviews. A key feature of this method, which is called the “dialogical-systemic case laboratory” is the involvement of both the clients and the professionals who had been directly involved in the case. The method could be used for the research of system-related errors in child protection and is designed for the dialogical reconstruction of a serious case processes. In the “dialogical-systemic case laboratory” seven phases play a role: (1.) clarification phase: preparation and coordination of the case laboratory, (2.) data collection phase: collection, sorting, reconstruction and analysis of relevant case documents, (3.) research phase: realization of retrospective interviews and research workshops, (4.) analysis phase: elaboration of the research report, (5.) feedback phase: feedback loops for commenting and correction of the research report, (6.) dissemination phase: publication and presentation about the findings and recommendations, (7.) aftercare phase: final talks with involved clients and professionals, and if needed - organization and coordination of further support. The paper presents findings of the case review process and discusses pitfalls and potentials of the new methodological approach.