Child Protection Systems in the United Kingdom: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Anne Stafford and her team are from the University of Edinburgh/NSPCC Centre for UK-wide Learning in Child Protection. This book presents a synthesis and comparative analysis of the centre's findings since its establishment in 2007—a challenge that the authors have risen to with diligence and enthusiasm. The book has two parts, each with its own messages, but interwoven with a coherent narrative. Part 1 provides an excellent overview of the policy-making process and of the team's approach to policy analysis. It sets the scene in terms of recent developments in the UK as a whole, placing particular emphasis on the role of the media in influencing child protection policy. The authors treat each country in the UK as a case study, and then compare the development of policies and processes between them. The account explores policy during the years since the devolution of parliamentary functions from London to the three smaller countries of the UK: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, each with its own distinctive political and cultural history.