Inquiries into child abuse

Abstract

In the light of the setting up of a Tribunal of Inquiry to investigate abuse of children in homes in North Wales, this article considers key issues about the general choice of types of inquiries and their use to look into the circumstances of cases of child abuse. The article presents data from a survey of published inquiry reports into child abuse from 1945 to the present day. In all, seventy reports are identified and sixty-one of these are examined in detail. Focus is placed on a range of issues relating to the use of inquiries, including the process by which inquiries are established, the way in which they are conducted and their outcomes and effects. In particular the article considers how the forms and concerns of inquiries have changed over time. The article concludes with a consideration about how concerns about abuse of children in state care or monitored by the state can be more effectively inquired into.

Key Words:

• public inquiry
• tribunal
• child abuse
• institutional abuse
• child protection