Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel
Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel stated that the child protection system’s design requires modification. The research finds that over 480 children died or were severely damaged due to maltreatment.

A recent research has disclosed that over 480 children in England suffered fatal or severe harm due to abuse or neglect, coinciding with the conviction of 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother for her “harrowing” murder.

Data from the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel indicated that 485 children were impacted by major incidents from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

Panel chairwoman Annie Hudson remarked on Sara’s “harrowing” case, asserting that the child protection system’s design necessitates reform and advocating for the establishment of multi-agency children teams in each local authority.

A campaign of abuse was perpetrated on Sara in her residence, resulting in over 70 injuries shortly before she was discovered deceased at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 of the previous year.

She exhibited numerous unexplained fractures in 25 spots on her body, which doctors indicated were likely the result of multiple instances of blunt force trauma sustained over several weeks.

Authorities neglected to recognise that Sara was at risk for years.

Urfan Sharif, her father, had several interactions with Surrey Social Services and law enforcement, while Sara’s school submitted a referral to social services five months before to her demise, but the case was terminated within days.

Ms. Hudson informed BBC Breakfast: “I wish to recognise the distressing account regarding Sara and the trial this week, and it is crucial that the offenders of such unfathomable cruelty have been held accountable.”

“A thorough and rigorous forensic examination of the events and the efficacy of inter-agency collaboration is essential over time, along with deriving lessons from the findings.”

Among the 330 serious incident notifications received by the panel, nearly half pertained to children who died (46%), and over a third were infants under one year of age.

Over fifty percent of instances resulting in the death or severe injury of a child under five involved a parent or other adult with a mental health disorder (57%), while 16% of children succumbed to suicide—of which 92% were documented as having a mental health condition.

The report highlighted the need to support children with mental health needs, with more than a fifth involved in the notifications found to have a mental health condition – most of them aged between 11 and 17 but the youngest aged six.

It also called for greater measures to improve partnerships between adult and children mental health services to protect pre-school aged children whose parents suffer from poor mental health.

According to the data, 43% of incidents featured a parent with an addiction to, or who misuses, alcohol and/or drugs.

Almost a quarter of serious incidents occurred outside the home by people who were not a member of the child’s family, including gang violence, child sexual abuse and child criminal exploitation.

On the most important issue identified from the report, Ms Hudson told BBC Breakfast: “Too often there are breakdowns in communication and the way in which information about what’s happening in a child’s life is not shared and put together in terms of the pieces of a jigsaw and understanding what’s happened in terms of the history of the life of a child or a family.”

She said agencies involved in child protection are often working in their own “silos and parameters” and highlighted the need for teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers, police and other professionals to share information to understand what is happening in a child’s life.

The panel is calling on the Government to implement multi-agency children teams in every local authority, creating “one single team or point” where child protection concerns will be investigated.

Maria Neophytou, interim chief executive at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, called on the Government to ensure family support services were more accessible and affordable.

“It is always deeply disturbing to see how many children have died or been seriously harmed as a consequence of abuse and neglect in the last year,” she said.

“This report acts as a powerful reminder of the tragic consequences when children’s best interests are not placed at the heart of the decisions that directly affect them, whether by frontline safeguarding partners in health, children’s social care or policing, or by Government officials and policymakers.”


If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.