ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at child protection in England and Wales from the perspective of the different agencies involved. It considers briefly the case for the inclusion of adult psychiatry in child protection. The role of social services in child protection is described in Working Together. The main vehicle adopted for the implementation and review of child protection plans are the multi-agency core groups. The Child Protection Coordinator will be the only person on the Area Child Protection Committee whose entire role is devoted to the management of child protection services. Health visitors and their managers will get on very well with social services and the police while they work to the agenda of those agencies and look at their role in investigation. The health services generally appear to have developed quality control procedures before social services departments. Consultant paediatricians operate in both hospital-based services and the community health services.
