The Isle of Wight Safeguarding Children Board have today (Tuesday 5th November) released two Serious Case Reviews (SCR) in relation to Child Safeguarding.
The first SCR gives no detail of what happened to the baby or child and responding to questions from OnTheWight, the Isle of Wight council were unwilling to confirm whether the SCR was in respect of a child death.
The second report, in respect of ‘Baby T’, provides comprehensive detail of the situation surrounding a three month old baby boy who had been taken to hospital in the summer of 2012 after he was ‘floppy, unresponsive and generally unwell’. The SCR was instigated after clinical opinion suggested the injuries had been caused by being shaken by an adult.
Criticism of Children’s Social Care
The Isle of Wight council’s Children’s Social Care, judged in January by Ofsted as Inadequate, is criticised in both reports.
The newly appointed Chair of the Isle of Wight Safeguarding Children Board, Maggie Blyth, commented:
“Whenever a child has been the victim of harm it is deeply distressing and a cause of great sadness. It is vital therefore that the events leading to such situations and the actions of the professionals involved are thoroughly scrutinised.
“Protecting vulnerable children is the responsibility of many agencies and the reports of their involvement in these two cases have been considered by the independent review panels which have examined how they responded in each case and identified whether more could have been done to protect the children involved.
“In January 2013 an Ofsted inspection found child protection arrangements on the Isle of Wight to be failing and judged them ‘inadequate’. The two reviews published today relate to incidents that occurred before the inspection so it is therefore not surprising that the review findings mirror those of Ofsted. In January 2013 the government issued Children’s Services with an improvement direction. It is acknowledged that since January 2013 however, a great deal of work has taken place to strengthen children’s social care on the island, including the implementation of a range of measures to improve front line services. It is self-evident however, that there are no quick fixes to these problems and time will be needed to ensure sustained improvement. I am sure that the messages from these reviews will contribute to that improvement. We owe that much to the children concerned.
“The Isle of Wight Safeguarding Children Board will be working closely with all partner agencies to ensure the recommendations from these two serious case reviews are taken forward without delay.”
Detailed assessment to follow
A more detailed assessment for each report will be provided by OnTheWight once there’s been an opportunity to give the reports the proper attention they require.
This is a very sensitive subject, which of course, we’ll do our utmost to treat with respect.
Update: At start of article and headline replaced Council with Safeguarding Children Board.
Image: featheredtar under CC BY 2.0
