Surface and depth in the Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report

This paper aims to read beneath the surface of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report, in a particular search for the absent emotional content of the many interconnected stories it relates. Following a brief summary of the main features of this complex case, the paper notes that many previous inquiry reports into child deaths have marked how the evidence for what was happening to the children was both seen and not seen by professionals, and this is also distressingly true in the case of Victoria Climbié. The paper suggests that the report itself replicates this difficulty, resulting in a disconnection between policy aims and practice realities. The extreme difficulty of facing emotional realities in child protection work is explored as the central factor accounting for the report's failure to engage with practice dynamics at greater depth, and thus develop a policy analysis which is better grounded in recognition of the emotional needs of practitioners and their organizations.