When families become involved in child protection inquiries and then, perhaps, are asked to attend child protection meetings, they can feel under stress. The people who work to protect children (social workers, health visitors, police officers, teachers, etc) know that family members sometimes feel angry and that they feel other people are blaming them or are trying to interfere in their lives.

What everyone involved wants is for the child or young person to be cared for safely at home. If there have been problems and these can be sorted out so that the child or young person is no longer abused and the risk of abuse is eliminated or reduced, then everyone will be happy.

There is one thing that's almost guaranteed - If members of the family and the people involved from the different agencies don't work together to solve problems, then issues will not get sorted out. Family members need to question the professionals if they feel they're not being involved enough. At the same time, if family members are not getting as involved as they should, then professionals have to tell them so.

Please click on the links below to go to pages that give more detailed information about child protection processes.

About Child Protection Inquiries

About Child Protection Meetings and the Child Protection Register