All babies count

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) today released a report which will ruffle a few feathers. It concerns the use of 'early intervention' in cases of abuse or neglect.

As always, when approaching research, you need to think about the old favourites 'subjectivity versus objectivity'; the inherent issues of bias and what the research is actually trying to say. The NSPCC wears its heart on its sleeve - it's a charity whose primary purpose is to raise awareness of issues relating to child welfare. This clearly does not make it impartial, so your job, should you decide to include the report in an assignment, is to carefully read the methodology and make a judgement on whether it's robust or flawed.

I suspect the phrase from the report which will get the media talking is mention of a 'toxic trio' of parental risk factors - mental illness, substance misuse and domestic violence. I'd keep eyes and ears open for some lively debates over the next couple of days.

So the report is called All Babies Count and if you want to discuss any issues related to using (or indeed not using) the report in an essay, you know where I am.