Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII) or Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy (MSP)

I am applying under the FOI Act for the five years individually from 2012-2017 for the number of times your Social Services department or your legal department has instigated child protection/ safeguarding procedures because of concerns about ‘Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII) or Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy (MSP).

Can you also tell us whether the allegation was made by an educational professional, health professional, social services professional or non professional.

Can you also tell us whether at any stage during the process the child involved had a diagnosis of ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) or CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).

If it is not possible in the time available to answer question number 3 then please supply the data for question 1 and 2.
If it is not possible in the time available to answer question 2, then please answer question 1 and 3.
If it is not possible in the time available to answer questions 2 and 3 then please supply the answers to question 1.
Ideally we want a breakdown of each of the years but, if that is not possible, then please give figures for the whole time period.

Locating and collating this information would involve a manual examination of free text fields of several thousand enquiries to identify where we have instigated child protection processes due to the factors indicated. Therefore the information is exempt under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Cost of Compliance.

To provide advice and assistance you can view the numbers of referrals for assessment as published by the Department of Education (DfE) National Performance Tables and then look at

  • Characteristics of Children In Need 2015 – 2016
  • Main Tables
  • Table C1’ –  for each year 2012 to 2015

The 2016 – 2017 data is currently being compiled as part of our 2016 – 2017 CIN Census Return and as this will be published by the DfE in October / November 2017 it is exempt under Section 22  of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 -Intended for Future Publication.