CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

The evidence on how to help our children is clear

Jonathan Breckon calls for a balance to be struck in which those working to protect vulnerable children can put into play both professional intuition and evidence-based research work in tandem

The sad reality is that abuse and neglect of children is not in decline. Around 520,000 children are abused or neglected at home each year. Much has been written about the need to rethink services to ensure that limited resources do the best for our most vulnerable children and families. But could we utilise more evidence to improve the situation?

In contrast to other sectors, the evidence base for what works in social care is underdeveloped. Compare this to at least four decades of evidence-based medicine. Medicine, admittedly, has had its problems. There is now a campaign for Real Evidence-Based Medicine. They want to move beyond ‘mechanical rule following', towards more human care. But whatever the challenges in medicine, we can be inspired by its commitment to research.

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