No system can protect every child from evil

Children are the most precious gift we are given.

The birth of a child, and the milestones in their early life, bring joy among family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues.

Against that shared sense of the joy and optimism which surrounds each child, none of us could have been anything but horrified by the appalling death of Liam Fee at the hands of the very people who should have loved him most.

They are the ones the courts have found guilty and will hold responsible for this appalling crime.

It is a sad truth that no system of child protection can ever ensure no child comes to harm at the hands of evil people.

But this case does rightly underline the need for a strong system which protects the most vulnerable children in Scotland.

I welcome the Significant Case Review announced by Fife Council. However, a system that acts only after harm has occurred is not enough. We can, must and will do better as a society.

Over the years as an MSP, I have seen what an incredibly difficult job social workers do supporting children and parents in crisis. Day in day out, without praise or publicity, these tremendously skilled people make critical decisions that transform the life chances of our most vulnerable families.

So there is excellent practice right across Scotland. But no matter how many lives are turned around or saved, the death of one child is one too many.

As a society we must work to ensure no child suffers, and excellence must always be the standard.

That’s why we announced, and have already started work on, our child protection improvement programme.

We need to know what is and isn’t working in the system. The programme will help us do this. Vulnerable young people must be supported in a way that will achieve the best possible outcome. This will be at the heart of our reforms.

We are working hard to address the areas of weakness highlighted by two reports into the child protection system. We accepted their recommendations and continue to

work on them as part of our improvement programme.

Key to the programme is a review that will be independently chaired by Catherine Dyer. She brings a wealth of experience as the former chief executive of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

The review will examine how local child protection committees, initial case reviews, significant case reviews and the child

protection register operate and work together to create a coherent, responsive system.

We need to ensure the system constantly improves. We’re investing in councils’ children’s fieldwork services, and have seen the number of social workers increase 7.5 per cent and the number of staff working in this area rise by 6.5 per cent between 2012-14.

Part of that improvement

is the introduction of a named person.

The named person provides a single contact point for families and builds on the supportive role teachers and health professionals have long offered children, young people and parents. It introduces a legal requirement on professionals to work together, and in support of the named person where there is a concern.

I think it is atrocious to

try to establish any link between the named person proposition and the Liam Fee case.

Liam was very much on the radar of social services. There was a very strong amount of involvement of social work personnel.

The question the serious case review has to examine is why did that not result in greater intervention to protect Liam. Anyone who tries to place the blame for

Liam’s death at the door of the named person policy is utterly wrong.

Child protection is the responsibility of every person in society.

We must all work together, across local and national government and across all services, to create a system that doesn’t just get it right for some of our children, some of the time, but gets it right for every child, every time.