Errors and mistakes in child protection: understandings and responsibilities

Abstract

This chapter provide an overview and discussion of some of the key concepts and issues on errors and mistakes in child protection. It discuss different definitions on errors and mistakes and the most discussed approaches (including the plague approach; the person approach, the legal approach and the systems approach) together with the challenges of trying to avoid and deal with errors and mistakes in child protection. It demonstrate that a universally agreed definition of error and mistakes in child protection does not exist and that in fatal child protection cases are often seen as the result of errors and mistakes. The chapter discuss a central question in child protection which concerns the responsibility for errors and mistakes, how such responsibility is distributed and avoided, and how power relations both reflect and feed into such processes.