![handle is hein.journals/lvplr11 and id is 1 raw text is: The Liverpool Law Review VoLXI()[1989] 5
EDITORIAL
Handling Child Abuse
In June 1987 the Cleveland crisis hit the headlines. It was re-
ported that over 250 (the eventual official figure was 121 although
no one will ever know the actual numbers) children had been re-
moved by the Social Services authority largely on the basis of evi-
dence of abuse from two paediatricians. A subsequent 254 page report
by Mrs. Justice Butler-Sloss (as she then was) was published in 1988.
Cleveland was the latest in a depressingly long list of child
abuse inquiries. Although it highlighted the need to identify and
describe the extent of child sexual abuse it nevertheless contained
many features similar to other inquiries: problems of inter-agency
cooperation; training shortcomings; the proper balance between
children's needs, parents' rights and state intervention. Many of its
recommendations have already been taken on board by agencies
operating within the general framework of management of child
abuse set down by the government. As with earlier reports, there is a
hope that lessons will be learned which will prevent the same sort
of thing happening again.
In this issue of the Liverpool Law Review we present a number of
articles which address some acknowledged, and some unacknow-
ledged, issues in the area of child protection. Some present the
views of practitioners within the field; others examine the
difficulties associated with how we identify and interpret data; all
reflect the complexity of legislating for change where such a variety
of perspectives, assumptions and techniques exist in investigating
and managing human relations.
In Social Services Departments and Child Protection - An
Evaluation, Brian Corby seeks to contextualise criticisms made of
social workers and their departments to establish a more informed
knowledge base from which to evaluate their activities. He
demonstrates that recognition of, and responses to, child abuse have
been influenced by social and political pressures. What is clear from
this analysis is that it is not possible to present an absolute view of
the phenomena of child abuse, whether physical or sexual. Thus](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/lvplr11&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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