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Sir, Camilla Cavendish raises important issues in her series of articles on child protection but she presents a very one-sided view (times2, July 7, 8 and 9).

Professionals are well aware of the difficult decisions they face. On the one hand, returning an abused child to abusive parents may literally be a matter of life and death; on the other, parents who lose their children feel devastated. Of course childcare professionals should be properly accountable for their decisions but some have been pursued by the media in a way that only deters them from welcoming more transparence.

We disagree with Ms Cavendish’s interpretation and understanding of some of the complex issues involved in these difficult cases. She does not seem to have approached representatives of those professionals she criticises to obtain a more balanced view.

It is difficult for all of us to accept that parents may harm their children and the price for making the wrong decision is high. Fundamentally, we agree that all professionals should be accountable for their actions and that the family justice system should be more transparent, but young people themselves, when consulted, were very wary of such a move.

Dr Patricia Hamilton
President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Dr Rosalyn Proops
Officer for Child Protection, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Sir, Family courts make decisions that have important effects on people’s lives and that affect them forever. Because of this, it is important that the public can have confidence in the courts.

We have consulted twice on how we could improve transparency. While it is important that the courts are more open, it is equally important that children’s interests are protected. The right of the public to know what is happening has to be balanced with a child’s right to privacy. These are sensitive issues and it is important that we get it right. We will be publishing proposals later this year.

It is important to help the public to understand what happens in family courts and how these difficult decisions are made. That is why we announced last summer that we would pilot the provision of providing written judgments when a final order is made in certain family cases. We will be retaining a copy of the judgment on the court file for the child to access when he or she is older, and publishing an anonymised version online. This will be the first time that this sort of information will be made routinely available to the children involved, and to the public.

Bridget Prentice, MP
London SW1

Sir, The suggestion that social workers are not accountable for their actions is not correct. As your article states, social workers have been required to register with the General Social Care Council (GSCC) since 2005. In registering, they sign up to a code of practice that sets out the standards they must work to. The great majority of the 93,000 registered social workers provide excellent services to high standards. For the small number who do not, we have taken action on a range of issues, including poor or inaccurate practice, resulting in social workers being removed from the register.

Sir Rodney Brooke
Chair, GSCC

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