Some 485 children in England died or were seriously harmed by abuse or neglect in a year, a report by the child safeguarding practice review panel has revealed, as experts called for change in the wake of the murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif.
Sara's school made a referral to Surrey CC's social services five months before her father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool murdered her last year, but the case was closed within days.
The children's commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, said: ‘The data systems clearly have not worked. That needs sorting out now. That was a failure.'
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