Former Children's Commissioner calls for "huge reset" to social services
It's after the murders of 10-month-old Finley Boden, and Jacob Crouch, at their family homes in Derbyshire in 2020.
The former children's commissioner is concerned the social service sector is being stretched to its limits.
Anne Longfield was in the role during the Covid lockdowns - when 10-month-old Finley Boden, and Jacob Crouch were murdered in their family homes.
There were 223 child deaths involving abuse or neglect - in 2020/21.
Anne said: "These are terrible tragedies. They're completely heart-breaking. I just wonder how anyone can do this. There's no doubt that a lot of the services around children and families are stretched to their limits."
Anne believes there needs to be a huge reset to children's social services: "We know that they've been under huge budgetary pressure over recent years and that the level of demand has just gone up.
"We need to be working much more with families early on. We need to ensure that we're investing in early intervention to help things before they turn into huge problems."
Anne said it'll benefit everyone if money is pumped into the sector: "We really need to make sure that actually we help children and their families to live well, and that means really paying attention to all those systems, ensuring they have the money upfront.
"That will save so much more, in the long run. The impact of that is all the thresholds go up... You can't get help until you know you hit crisis and that's no place for anyone to be in, because it not only is much worse for those families and children, but it costs all of us through the public purse much more."