The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has published a review of the circumstances involved in cases where babies under-one-year-old have been harmed or killed by their fathers or other males in a caring role.
Findings include:
a range of risk factors were common in many of the cases,
a lack of information sharing was a key factor that prevented practitioners from responding to risk to babies,
many services aimed at new parents are predominantly focused on the mother.
Recommendations include:
the government should fund pilots to develop holistic work with fathers
the engagement of fathers must be embedded in prospective and current family-focused programmes.
Read the news story: New review investigates babies harmed by fathers and stepfathers
Read the CASPAR briefing: Summary of “The myth of invisible men”: safeguarding children under one from non-accidental injury caused by male carers: CASPAR briefing
Source: Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel
Date: 16 September 2021