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Mayor and politicians facing questions over care
DONCASTER'S elected mayor and most senior council officers will come under the microscope during a major investigation into the town's child care network.
More on the Doncaster child protection inquiry
In a strongly-worded letter to Mayor Martin Winter, Children's Minister Beverley Hughes warned the scope of the inquiry into Doncaster Council's failing children's services department would stretch beyond merely assessing social workers.
Ms Hughes said Government officials would go to the very top of the authority to discover "the root causes" of the department's dismal performance.
The inquiry will be completed by March, and ministers are prepared to strip Doncaster's social services chiefs of their responsibilities if the inspection team finds flaws in the system.
Ms Hughes wrote: "When the report is completed, I shall need to decide what action is necessary to improve services for children and young people in Doncaster in the light of the report's findings, the action the council and its partners have already taken and the prospects for rapid improvement.
"As you would expect, in relation to the council, I shall consider whether it will be necessary and expedient to use direction-making powers... to bring about the necessary changes to ensure the safety and well-being of children and young people. I shall also want to consider whether action needs to be taken across the wider local area."
The investigation was announced a month after the watchdog Ofsted published Doncaster's annual performance assessment, which found the council's children's services department to be "inadequate".
Ms Hughes wrote: "It is crucial that the root causes of these failings are fully explored and that the capacity and capability of the council and its key partners to drive improvement in these areas is fully assessed.
"I have therefore instructed my officials to commission a thorough diagnostic review to evaluate the current position of the council's provision of children's services.
"I also consider it necessary that the diagnostic review examines broader corporate issues within the council, in order that the root causes of underperformance in children's services can be addressed."
Doncaster's Labour Mayoral candidate Sandra Holland said it was time for the council's to "stop playing the victim".
"The victims are these children who have died and those today that remain at risk; nothing could be more serious," she said.
"This is not about politics; it is about addressing failings in an important service, safeguarding local children."
In a joint statement, Doncaster MPs Jeff Ennis, Caroline Flint, Ed Miliband and Rosie Winterton said: "The mayor and senior officers need to accept these criticisms fully and offer every support to the Government experts coming into review this service.
"We need immediate action to improve this service in order to protect vulnerable children in our borough. As local MPs we expect to be kept informed of progress on this most important issue, both by ministers and by Doncaster Council."
Shadow Children's Minister Tim Loughton said it showed that the Government had failed to support social workers.
"Almost nine years on from the tragic murder of Victoria Climbie, vulnerable children are still being failed by the system of child protection," he said.
"The Government must realise that it is not changing structures and heaping yet more paperwork on children's services departments that makes for better child protection but having well resourced and well motivated social workers."
Case number 1: 'Baby BO5'
A three-month-old boy, identified only as Baby BO5, died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in 2004 after sharing a bed with his mother, who had been drinking.
An independent panel which investigated the death concluded it was a "tragic accident", but found a catalogue of failings in Doncaster Council's work with the family.
Although the baby was staying in north Lincolnshire at the time of his death, he had previously lived in Doncaster with his father, mother and three siblings. His parents' relationship was punctuated by instability, marital violence and alcohol misuse.
The panel discovered "structural weaknesses within the agencies" and found communication between child care teams and the Youth Offending Service was "by no means as robust as it might have been".
Case number 2'child AO6'
The death of Child AO6 in May 2006 bore striking similarities to the tragic case of Baby BO5 two years earlier. Both died after sleeping alongside their drunken mothers.
Child AO6, a seven-month-old girl, died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but the coroner at her inquest took the view that "alcohol was a contributory factor".
Social workers and police had been aware of the risk. Only two weeks earlier, they had visited the family home and found the mother drunk in bed with the baby.
An independent panel, investigating the case, concluded that the agencies should have considered taking Child AO6 into care there and then.
The mother had a "long history" of alcohol abuse, crime, suicide attempts, social phobia, anxiety, bulimia and depression.
Case number 3'child A'
An investigation into the death of this 10-month-old boy found that Doncaster Council's social services department was in a "chaotic and dangerous" situation.
The baby, identified only as Child A, was found dead in his pram by his mother
Investigations concluded the child died of natural causes but social workers had "missed" opportunities to check on him.
Social workers had been called upon 10 times to help care for Child A or his sibling, but the panel found that "overall the response to these referrals was grossly inadequate".
The panel added: "It is unknown whether there were any indications in the period immediately preceding Child A's death ... of a need for medical attention or whether any medical intervention could have prevented this."
Case number 4 Amy Howson
Sixteen-month-old Amy Howson was subjected to months of abuse at the hands of her father, culminating in an attack so severe it snapped her spine in two.
A court heard that James Howson killed her by placing her on his knee and deliberately pushing her down with force.
Howson, of Nelson Road, Doncaster, had already punched and slapped the baby as well as pulling and twisting her limbs, causing six fractures to her arms and legs.
Amy also had a fractured rib and a serious head injury, and she was dehydrated and malnourished.
Convicted of murder, Howson was jailed for life.
Amy's mother, Tina Hunt, was given a suspended sentence after admitting child cruelty, on the basis that she did nothing to alert the authorities to her daughter's plight.
Case number 5 Alfie Goddard
Alfie Goddard was only three months old when he died at Sheffield Children's Hospital last May.
A post-mortem examination revealed the boy, who lived in the
Toll Bar area of Doncaster, had suffered a head injury two days earlier.
Alfie's father Craig Goddard is due to be sentenced on Thursday for his murder.
His mother, Lindsay Harris, is charged with child neglect and perverting the course of justice.
After an inquest into the boy's death was opened and adjourned last May, his grandmother, Gail Harris, said: "Alfie's family are devastated by the tragic and untimely death of this beautiful little boy.
"Alfie meant the world to so many people and we will miss him terribly."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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