MORE work is needed in Somerset to “protect unborn babies” from abuse and identify vulnerable families before it’s too late.

That’s according to the outcome of a serious case review which will be published by the Somerset Safeguarding Children Partnership next month.

The partnership – made up of Somerset County Council, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group – will make a series of recommendations on how abuse and neglect can be prevented in similar cases.

The county council – which is responsible for children’s services and adult social care – has declined to make any comment until the report has been published.

A serious case review is held after a child or vulnerable adult either dies or is seriously injured under circumstances where abuse or neglect could have been involved.

The process is designed to learn lessons from what happened and implement new procedures and safeguards to prevent the same things from occurring again.

The latest review – into ‘Family B’ – was confirmed in a report to the Somerset health and well-being board, which met in Taunton on Thursday morning (January 16).

Caroline Dawson, business manager of the Somerset Safeguarding Children Partnership, said in her written report: “Two serious case reviews were undertaken in the period 2018 to 2019.

“One was published in the autumn of 2018 (Family A), and one will be published in early-2020 (Family B).

“These highlight the need for further work to identify vulnerabilities in parents, protect unborn babies and very young children and to act on neglect earlier.”

The review into ‘Family A’, which was published in November 2018, identified missed opportunities from different agencies to prevent three children from being neglected and allegedly sexually abused over a period of several years.

It found that the agencies failed to share information effectively and failed to take action when confronted by the “hostile” and “aggressive” parents.

Somerset County Council has confirmed the review into ‘Family B’  will be made public next month, but has not released any further details at this time.

A spokesman said: “The serious case review wont be published by the partnership until February. The partnership and its members will be available to speak to the media then.

“It would not be appropriate to comment on its contents prior to publication.”