After 50 years of ‘protocolization’, what is the progress towards Munro’s image of a more flexible, innovative and ‘child-centred’ English child protection system?

Fifty years after the formation of England’s child protection system, the country continues to reel from new instances of high-profile child death tragedies where children have been harmed despite practitioners complying with the processes and procedures designed to protect them. This article considers the continued obstacles posed by the ‘protocolization’ of England’s child protection practice, and further challenges the assumption that child protection procedures, and the practitioner’s knowledge about those procedures, on their own, can produce consistently child-centred practice. The study elucidates the lived experience of a cohort of 30 child protection social workers practising across 19 different English local authorities. Data collection comprised of virtual focus groups supplemented by critical realist grounded theory – with the aim of better achieving explanatory (as opposed to descriptive) accounts of the child protection system. The results highlight ongoing barriers to the Munro Review’s image of a ‘child centred’ system, characterised by practitioner discretionary space, and decisions informed more by the needs of the child, than the needs of the agency. However, results also highlight practitioner strategies (e.g., ‘professional disobedience’, ‘Seeing Triple’ and identifying a ‘shared goal’), for negotiating restrictive processes and policies of compliance, whilst also improving interagency communication and overcoming parental resistance.