Grading the graded care profile

This paper presents some of the key findings of a study investigating the introduction of the Graded Care Profile (GCP) – a tool used in the assessment of child neglect – in one Scottish local authority where neglect is the primary reason for which nearly half of all children are placed on the Child Protection Register. The findings suggest that while there are some advantages to the use of the GCP there are also a number of significant questions about previous claims made about its objectivity and value-neutrality, its user-friendliness and its ability to generate good partnership working with parents, particularly where there are substantive disagreements about the quality of care.