Protecting children is a challenge for any government. Cases like the horrifying death of Liam Fee at the hands of his mother and her partner, or Brandon Muir, or Declan Hainey all the other sad cases that have gone before, usually provoke twin responses. "We must try and ensure this never happens again" is paired with a caveat. "We can never guarantee it will not happen again."
While some may find it hard to stomach, it is impossible to prevent every instance where a child is harmed or killed without introducing measures most societies would find unpalatable.
However the Scottish Government has a mixed record. It has been strong on implementing Getting it Right for Every Child, (girfec) the national policy which underpins child protection. It has updated the laws governing the Children's Hearing System and is bringing in the named person scheme which will make the system easier to navigate and attempts to bring health, education, social work and charities together to ensure children do not slip between the cracks.
But ministers have been woeful at communicating that policy, which has become mired in often ill-informed criticism. They have not exactly been swift to introduce reforms recommended by reports such as Jackie Brock's on child protection or Profesor Brigid Daniel's on child neglect.
Confusion over the work of integrated joint boards - set up to steer health and social care integration - continues. How can it be that half the boards have responsibility for children's services and half do not? It is difficult to be reassured about child protection in such circumstances.
Some will have found it odd that first minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged this week to publish the Significant Case Review into Liam Fee's case.
But in fact, not all such reviews following such cases are published, and those that are are often heavily redacted. This must surely change.
There are concerns too about funding. One of the Scottish Government's successes, in partnership with councils, has been to protect funding for frontline social work. Children and families departments may be overstretched, but they have been mostly unaffected by cuts.
But that cannot continue. Already charities offering family support and other interventions have suffered while in-house budgets are maintained. But by next year the protection for social work jobs is described by those in the know as 'impossible to sustain'.
This make sit all the more important that John Swinney and the government get back on the front foot on child protection.
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