Introduction

As a result of a number of high-profile public inquiries into the tragic deaths of children spanning more than four decades, ‘information sharing’ has now become a moral and political imperative for improving the welfare and protection of children. Children's services in England and Wales have become increasingly ‘integrated’ in that agencies in health, welfare, education, criminal justice and housing are tasked with working more closely together to support families and safeguard children. While the language of ‘working together’ and ‘joined-up services’, and the concept of the ‘co-located’ professional whose work transcends and cuts across traditional boundaries are most readily associated with previous New Labour administrations, the idea that agencies need to work together effectively to meet the needs of children and families is not new. Arrangements for coordinating services for children can be attributed to a circular issued in 1950, which, in response to the ill treatment of children, recommended the establishment of children's coordinating committees (Home Office, cited in Hallett and Stevenson, 1980). Over a decade later in 1968, the Seebohm report recommended the formation of unified social services departments that were to be derived from the ‘joining up’ of local authority children's health and welfare departments, so that services for individuals, children, families and communities might be rendered more effective. Aside from this report, it was the death of a seven-year-old girl, Maria Colwell, at the hands of her step-father William Kepple in 1973, and the subsequent committee inquiry to investigate the circumstances of her death, that progressed the notion of integrated service delivery, placing ‘working together’ firmly on the policy agenda in regard to dealing with non-accidental injury to children (DHSS, 1974).

Maria Colwell, born in March 1965 in Hove, was the youngest of five children. Within weeks of Maria's birth, her father, Raymond Colwell, left the family home, and some months later, when Maria was nearly four months old, died of natural causes, leaving Pauline Colwell (Maria's mother) with sole care of their five children. As she was unable to cope with the situation, Pauline Colwell initiated plans to send Maria to live with her late husband's sister, Doris Cooper. In response to child protection concerns, the four remaining children were removed from Pauline's care under legislation equivalent to a care order today.