Public trust in social services has been dented by the Baby P tragedy, according to a new poll.
Some 42% of people said their opinion of children's social workers had got worse since the case, the survey for the Local Government Association found.
Only 54% agreed that social services were generally effective at protecting children and 43% said they would not recommend a career as a social worker to a friend or relative.
The research found that more people think protecting children at risk is primarily the responsibility of friends, family and neighbours (62%) than of social workers, police, teachers and doctors (35%).
Nearly 80% of those polled would support more resources being given to council children's social services.
Baby P, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was on the child protection register when he died at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger in August 2007.
He had suffered more than 50 injuries despite receiving 60 visits from social workers, doctors and police over an eight-month period.
The LGA is hosting a conference for councillors and local authority officers to discuss the implications of Lord Laming's recent report on child protection in England.
The Government asked the peer, who led the inquiry into Victoria Climbie's death, to carry out an urgent nationwide review of child welfare services in the light of Baby P's death. Lord Laming criticised public bodies for not doing enough to implement the policy changes he recommended six years ago.
ComRes interviewed 1,005 British adults by telephone between March 20 and 22 for the survey.
