The sad reality is that abuse and neglect of children is not in decline. Around 520,000 children are abused or neglected at home each year. Much has been written about the need to rethink services. To ensure that limited resources achieve the best possible outcomes for our most vulnerable children and families. Or to intervene early to prevent them from entering the care system in the first place. But could we utilise more evidence to improve the situation? In contrast to other sectors, the evidence base for what works in social care is underdeveloped.
This paper outlines some ways forward in improving evidence use in child protection. It is based on a roundtable chaired by Geoff Mulgan, chief executive of Nesta, run by the Alliance for Useful Evidence and NPSCC, on 10 March 2014 (a list of delegates can be found in Annex A), email correspondence with delegates, and a plenary debate at the ‘How safe are our children?’ NSPCC national conference, 2 April 2014 at the Royal College of Physicians, London. Unless otherwise stated, any quotations used in the report come from the roundtable on 10 March 2014. The views and any errors are, however, the authors’ own.