Curious Framework
What Ava’s Story Teaches Us About Missed Safeguarding Opportunities
Through a CURIOUS Framework lens
When Practice Reviews or Rapid Reviews are published, the same themes often emerge: missed opportunities, assumptions, gaps in information sharing, and insufficient analysis of risk.
Ava’s story is no exception.
But what if we approached these reviews through a structured, compassionate and professionally curious lens one that centres children’s lived experience and supports deeper reflection at every stage?
The CURIOUS Framework offers that structure. It encourages professionals to slow down, connect, and think beyond surface-level information. Ava’s case shows what can happen when that curiosity is absent.
This reflection explores Ava’s case through the CURIOUS Framework, highlighting where safeguarding practice might have unfolded differently.
The Local Safeguarding Children Practice Review (LSCPR) focuses on Ava, a two-year-old child discovered in a neglected condition alongside her eight-year-old sibling in March 2022, following a police welfare visit.
Connect with Compassion
Professional curiosity begins with human connection.
Ava was born during the COVID-19 lockdown. While remote working was necessary at the time, it was never intended to replace meaningful engagement with families.
Ava’s lived experience and that of her mother remained largely unseen.
Compassionate connection does not mean fixing or rescuing. It means pausing long enough to understand reality, even when that reality is hidden behind closed doors or shaped by crisis.
Questions that might have shifted the trajectory include:
How is this mother coping with a new baby during lockdown?
What is the emotional impact of isolation on this family?
What support is needed, even if it isn’t being requested?
Compassion is about seeing and acknowledging someone’s world especially when circumstances make that world harder to access.
Reflective prompt:
How do we meaningfully engage families who appear reluctant to engage with services?
This reflective approach is embedded within our Level 4 and Level 5 safeguarding training.
