CHILD PROTECTION
Looking out for children at risk
At the city council on 18 March, the social work department will
present a comprehensive report on the work we have been undertaking in
relation to child protection issues following the O’Brien report into
the death of Caleb Ness. In reviewing the council’s child protection procedures, it became
apparent that the absence of national guidance against which to measure
Edinburgh’s position could hamper progress in this area, particularly in
relation to case reviews and quality assurance systems.
I hope that the work we are doing in this area will contribute to the
formulation of national guidance and procedures. The council will also
receive a report on the progress of implementing the recommendations
from the O’Brien inquiry.
The last six months have been a very difficult time for everyone
involved in social work in Edinburgh. Child protection activity,
particularly referrals from other agencies, has increased 50 per cent
since the publication of the report into baby Caleb’s death, whilst
staff vacancies in children and families work have risen to 20 per cent.
It is to everyone’s credit that we have been able to maintain services
whilst bringing forward the developments the council will be asked to
approve tomorrow. From the inquiry, six of the eight recommendations that were
addressed solely to the social work department have been fully
implemented. These include recommendations in relation to training for
chairing a child protection case conference; the employment and training
of admin staff to take and type minutes from child protection case
conferences and that the supervising senior social worker should attend
child protection case conferences along with the social worker to whom
the case is allocated. The two further recommendations are almost
complete.
The social work department is fully engaged with its partners in
health and the police on the recommendations applying to more than one
agency.
There was criticism directed at the social work department for not
having a detailed examination of the professional practice of the staff
involved with Caleb Ness and his family immediately following Caleb’s
death. When a criminal investigation has been started there has been a
reluctance to examine professional practice until that investigation
and/or prosecution is concluded. But it is apparent that there is a need
to examine professional practice following a death such as Caleb’s,
without compromising the criminal proceedings, in order to quickly
identify improvements that need to be made.
The social work department is now recommending an internal management
review of professional practice should be conducted that involves:
- The non-accidental death of a child, or serious non-accidental
injury to a child, on the child protection register.
- The non-accidental death of a child in the same household as a
child receiving support from a social worker.
- The non-accidental/non-natural death of, or serious non-accidental
injury to, a service user receiving a care package.
A review of professional practice in these circumstances would
involve negotiation with Lothian and Borders Police and the Procurator
Fiscal’s office and would include interviews with staff and managers
involved the examination of case records, and the possibility of
interviews with family members and carers.
Social work managers have been looking at how best to deliver child
protection enquiry work for some time now. The creation of specialist
managers for child protection is now being recommended, to work closely
with the police to ensure a more effective overview of child protection
cases.
Working with children at risk involves balancing principles and risk.
The most effective way to aid this is by limiting the number of
high-risk cases that each social worker has lead responsibility for, and
by providing critical and supportive supervision.
In response to Lord Laming’s inquiry into the death of eight-year-old
Victoria Climbié, Haringey Council reduced its children and families
social workers’ caseloads to 13. Edinburgh City Council will tomorrow be
asked to set a target reduction in caseload size to 14, to ensure that
allocated work is delivered to a quality standard. The current average
caseload is 19, and the target date for achieving the reduction is March
2006.
In the interim period, a number of measures will be introduced which
will include the provision of regular updates to the council on vacancy
rates and unallocated cases in children and families services, formal
checks on unallocated cases, the regular monitoring and signing of child
protection case files by senior social workers and managers, annual
internal audit of child protection practice by senior managers, a
three-yearly external independent audit of child protection practice and
the creation of two solicitor posts dedicated to complex child care
cases.
Despite the work that has gone into modernising child protection work
in Edinburgh, this work is always about the management of risk and
complexity. Scotland has recently appointed Kathleen Marshall as
children’s commissioner, and in a recent article in Children in Scotland
magazine she outlined the dilemmas we face: “Child protection will
always be based on risk assessment, and we do that in the knowledge that
things may go wrong. We could cut down on the number of road traffic
accidents involving children by banning children under 16 from crossing
the road. But I don’t think anyone would advocate that. It’s about
balance and ensuring the protection measures in place are sound.”
We are determined to have these sound measures in place in Edinburgh,
and the reports to council tomorrow will represent significant steps
towards achieving this.
Kingsley Thomas Edinburgh City Council’s executive member for social
work
18 March 2004
http://news.scotsman.com/columnists.cfm?id=309792004
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