Professor Andy Bilson explains how his research demonstrates how existing protocols on pre-mobile bruising mislead staff and risk exposing parents to damaging and unnecessary child protection action.
In a recent report, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (“the panel”) asked safeguarding partners to review their policies on bruising in non-mobile infants “to check for consistency with the evidence base and national guidelines.”
The panel acknowledges that there are a small number of children who are seriously harmed or die, where bruises have been seen by staff with a responsibility to protect children before more serious injuries have taken place. So why does the panel require these policies to change and what should they say?
