The 1988 inquiry into child abuse in Cleveland, chaired by Baroness Butler-Sloss, 'blamed the crisis on lack of proper understanding by agencies of each others’ functions lack of communication between agencies and a difference of opinion by middle managers which weren’t recognised by senior staff and then affected those on the ground'. See Valios (2007) Progess in child protection since the Cleveland child abuse scandal, Community Care online article.

Source: Butler-Sloss, Lord Justice E. (1988) Report of the inquiry into child abuse in Cleveland 1987, Cmnd 412 Londoin: HMSO.