Everyone wants children to be safe, for society to identify those who are ‘at risk’ and for those ‘in authority’ to put processes in place to ensure that no child ‘slips through the net’. The key challenge is that a large number of individuals and agencies are involved in this activity, each with a significant contribution to make. In most countries, heads of local governments’ children’s services are responsible for ensuring that safeguarding processes and procedures are adhered to. But the key to success is the cooperation from all the other agencies involved. Such commitment comes from a clear process, which sets out the stages and target times for the creation of a child protection plan for each case referred to children’s services. These referrals can come from a number of sources, including schools, social services, the police and anonymous reports. Regular strategy meetings determine if a deeper investigation should be carried out by the police and/or by social services. What do you see as important in ensuring that such complex service networks operate effectively?