How many more children must die before we fix England’s social services?

‘Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’s relatives had called social services and offered photographic evidence of his injuries – but social workers concluded there were “no safeguarding concerns”.’ Photograph: Family handout/PA

Something is going badly wrong in children’s social care, a system scarred by the names of murdered children. The deaths of Victoria Climbié, Peter Connelly and Daniel Pelka over the past 20 years prompted round after round of inquiries, reviews and reforms. But still the list of dead children grows.

In recent days and weeks more small lost lives have been added to this grim toll: Logan Mwangi, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, Star Hobson, Kyrell Matthews and Hakeem Hussain. Three of those children, Arthur, Star and Logan, died during the pandemic. The descriptions of their lives and manner of their deaths are painful to read.