This comprehensive international study provides a cross-national analysis of different understandings of errors and mistakes, as well as lessons to avoid and how to handle them in child protection practice, using research and knowledge from 11 countries in Europe and North America.


Divided into country-specific chapters, each examines the pathways that lead to mistakes happening, the scale of their impact, how responsibilities and responses are decided and how practice and policy subsequently change. Considering the complexities of evolving practice contexts, this authoritative, future-oriented study is an invaluable text for practitioners, researchers and policy makers wishing to understand why child protection fails – and offers a springboard for fresh thinking about strategies to reduce future risk.

Contributions by: Jaclyn Chambers, Jill Duerr Berrick, Teresa Bertotti, Gilles Séraphin, Hélène Join- Lambert, Christine Gerber, Heinz Kindler, Clarissa Schär, Kay Biesel, Brigitte Müller, Staffan Höjer, Inger Kjellberg, Øyvind Tefre, Marit Skivenes, Tarja Pösö, Essi Julin, Mónica López López, Tom Van Yperen, Kirti Zeijlmans, Fred Powell, Caroline Shore, Nigel Parton, Judith Masson, Michelle Cottier