70 years of unlearned lessons: Time for a new approach to child abuse inquiries?

Since 1945 the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies have adopted a quasi-judicial response to high profile child abuse cases, usually in the form of a senior judge working with team of lawyers to conduct a public inquiry.... [ view full abstract ]

Since 1945 the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies have adopted a quasi-judicial response to high profile child abuse cases, usually in the form of a senior judge working with team of lawyers to conduct a public inquiry. Inquiries typically last one - four years. The findings and recommendations of over 50 major child abuse inquiries over seven decades have produced remarkably similar "lessons to be learned" - which apparently haven't. A current proliferation of this model in the UK in the last three years has seen seven major child abuse inquiries launched, with costs running into tens of millions of pounds and reporting timescales reaching into the next decade. Drawing on over years direct experience of inquiries and a study of approaches adopted in UK inquiries, this paper considers: What do these inquiries achieve? Are some more effective than others? To what extent do they improve outcomes for child victims and better equip professionals? Dialogue and collaborative working are proposed to reflect on how the resources invested in costly public inquiry undertakings might be best directed to the goal of keeping more children alive and safe from abuse, while satisfying legitimate public interest in learning from and preventing child abuse tragedies. An example of an alternative model of inquiry, in which practitioners, academics and educators are closely engaged in capturing, disseminating and transferring learning is outlined to spark debate.