was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Social Services in July 1987 and published in 1988. The report was led by Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and it concluded that most of the diagnoses were incorrect. As a result, 94 of the 121 children were returned to their homes. An editorial in The Lancet concluded: "The kindest description of Dr Marietta Higgs and Dr Geoffrey Wyatt would be to say that they were naive, but naivety should not number among a consultant paediatrician's characteristics. By their bull-headed approach, Dr Higgs and Dr Wyatt... have set back the cause they sought to promote." In July 1988, six MPs tabled a House of Commons motion for charges of indecent assault and conspiracy to be brought against Higgs and Wyatt. On 14 October 1991, the Children Act 1989 was implemented in full as a result of the Cleveland child abuse scandal and other child related events that preceded it. In 1997, a controversial television documentary, The Death of Childhood, claimed that "independent experts under the guidance of the Department of Health later found that at least 70 per cent of the diagnoses" were correct. According to the documentary, two years after the scandal a number of children were again referred to social services and determined to be at risk for child abuse. In February 2007, Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, who was the regional medical officer at the time of the scandal, said of the original diagnoses: "The techniques that have been used have not been reliable and it does look as if some mistakes have been made." A few days later, two of the children who had been the focus of the scandal asked the Middlesbrough police for an investigation of their 1987 experience. See also Abuse Child abuse Child sexual abuse False allegation of child sexual abuse Sexual abuse Notes Bibliography Bell, Stuart (1988). When Salem Came to the Boro, The True Story of the Cleveland Child Abuse Crisis External links Kerry's story Sunday Times article BMJ summary of official enquiry Abuse Child sexual abuse in England Children's rights in England 1987 in England Scandals in England 1987 in law Cleveland, England History of County Durham English family law