Case Reviews

The Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership carries out different types of case reviews. The decision about the type of review will depend on the circumstances of the individual case. This will be based upon the best approach to understanding what happened and identify the learning to improve local arrangements.

Rapid reviews will be carried out following a serious incident that has been reported to the National Child Safeguarding Review Panel. A serious incident describes a circumstance when a child has died or been seriously harmed as a result of abuse or neglect. The local authority (in the area where the child lives) is responsible for completing a serious incident notification and this will result in the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership carrying out a rapid review to identify if action is needed to improve local arrangements and in some cases, whether a more in depth review is needed.

A local Child Safeguarding Practice Review will be commissioned by the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership in circumstances where a more in depth review is needed to understand how local safeguarding arrangements should be strengthened as a result of initial learning identified in the rapid review. A local child safeguarding practice review will involve the family(if they wish to be involved), agencies who provided services to the family and the report will be published.

The full detail of all published Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews are available here.

More detailed information is available about the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Process in Derby and Derbyshire. 

Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (DDSCP) have produced three best practice guides to support us when we are working with children and families where child in need plans, personal health budgets or special guardianship orders are a feature.

Practitioners including front line staff, team managers and senior managers from a variety of agencies across Derby and Derbyshire have helped to create these guides, along with input from families.  Therefore, we hope that you will find them relevant and useful in your practice.    

The aim of the guides is to provide practitioners across all agencies with a set of best practice principles to support and enhance direct work with children and families (in addition to using existing legislation and guidance) and to help achieve the shared multi agency aim of meeting the needs of children and increasing their safety and wellbeing. 

Sometimes the Community Safety Partnership (in either Derby or Derbyshire) will commission a Domestic Homicide Review. This is a review into the circumstances around the death of a family member following domestic abuse. The Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership will participate in domestic homicide reviews where there are children within the family and publish relevant learning following the completion and publication of the review.

All reviews are carried out so that improvements can be identified and action taken to improve how agencies work with each other more effectively to keep children, young people and their families safe.

The Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership annual report will include a summary of the progress that has been made following case reviews and the ways in which outcomes for children and young people have been improved.