Any GP working in the UK in 2001 or since could not fail to be familiar with the name of Victoria Climbié. Aged 7, Victoria was brought from Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa to live with a great-aunt in London to fulfil her parents' hope of receiving a better education. In the most tragic of circumstances she died as a result of wilful neglect and abject cruelty at the hands of the aunt and her boyfriend, both subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. A major inquiry followed her death.1 Lord Laming described the response of the health and social services who had been involved with this vulnerable child as ‘lamentable’ and his report catalogues the systematic failure of the many organisations involved with extensive recommendations for change.
Eight years later how much has changed since Victoria Climbié's potentially preventable death? Disturbingly, the situation has deteriorated. Homicide statistics for children in the UK show an annual increase with the highest number of 111 deaths recorded in 2007.2 The NSPCC gives rates of approximately 1–2 child deaths every week, carried out at the hands of parents or guardians.2
Why is this so? The government's rhetoric is unequivocal. Every Child Matters 3 followed Laming's report and aimed to ‘properly protect children at risk of …