Children’s services tackling rising toll of Bradford abuse

Bradford Council children’s services began 1,942 child protection investigations in the year to September 2013, up from 1,619 in the previous year.

The number of child protection cases in the city reached very high levels in 2009 in the wake of high profile child deaths, including that of Baby P – Peter Connelly – who died in London in August 2007.

Although the numbers in Bradford fell in 2010 and 2011-12 they have been rising since March this year.

The number of Bradford children who are the subject of a child protection plan has been increasing since October last year.

There were 467 child protection plans in place in September this year, compared to 357 at September 2012.

A committee report to be discussed by Bradford councillors next Tuesday has stated that the proportion of children becoming subject to a child protection plan in Bradford by reason of physical abuse has fallen in the last year.

But there has been an increase in the proportion of new child protection plans starting because of emotional abuse and sexual abuse.

The report adds: “Relatively, there are fewer children subject to a plan in Bradford than nationally, despite the recent rise. The current rate of children subject to a child protection plan is 34 per 10,000 child population (at September 30, 2013) which remains below the national rate of 37.8 per 10,000 (at March 31, 2012).”

The number of child protection plans lasting for two years or more has dropped, with 38 in the year to September 2013, compared to 45 in the previous year.

The report says previous high- profile child deaths in Doncaster and Birmingham resulted in increased demand for social care services in Bradford and nationally.

It adds: “There has also been a high-profile death of Hamza (sic) Khan in Bradford and a criminal trial took place last month in respect of his mother. A serious case review has been undertaken and once published the lessons will be reported to the overview and scrutiny committee.”

Bradford Council’s assistant director of children’s specialist services, Julie Jenkins, said it was too early to say whether the death of Hamzah would have an impact on the volume of child protection work in the city.

Asked why Bradford has a lower than average rate of children subject to a child protection plan, Ms Jenkins said the city council had made significant investments in family support and “edge of care” services to families.

She added: “There is a multi-agency response to all referrals with a health visitor, education welfare officer and a police officer working alongside social workers. This means that families can get access to the right service depending on the need of their child.

“Our Child Protection Unit gives advice to all staff working with children on levels of risk; lower level concerns are managed through children in need plans and all child protection concerns are investigated quickly.

“Cases do not drift – they are reviewed on time to make sure outcomes are improving for the children and if not whether that child needs to come into care.”

The serious case review into the death of Hamzah Khan, who was starved to death by his mother, is published next Wednesday.