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John Warmisham
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Council's 'inadequate' care
18/ 7/2008
SALFORD council has been ordered by the government to take urgent action over `inadequate' support for children at risk of neglect.
A leaked report written by consultants appointed by Whitehall is damning about the city's failings. But the council tried to hush up the government's involvement.
The report says that while millions are spent looking after a huge number of children in care not enough is allocated to supporting children still living with their families but needing the support of social workers to keep them out of care.
One high-ranking officer has been moved to another post and three new senior officers have been brought in as trouble shooters in the wake of the criticism. In February - when the report was done {ndash} the number of children in care was 121 per 10,000 of the population {ndash} the average for England is 54. The population of Salford is 217,000.
The situation became so critical that in March last year 12 per cent of youngsters on the `children at risk' register had not been allocated a qualified social worker to monitor them. But the council says no children were put at increased risk and more social workers have now been recruited.
But the Department for Children, Schools and Families has issued the council with a draft improvement notice and Salford must report to the government again in December.
The leaked report says: "We have identified a serious failure at senior management level both historically and currently to exercise sound judgement, set priorities correctly, make safe decisions, and balanced judgements in relation to how safeguarding services for children are managed."
It adds that despite the colossal number of children in council care senior management have done nothing to reduce the figures. The draft improvement notice was issued in May after council leader John Merry and chief executive Barbara Spicer were summoned to Whitehall to meet Kevin Brennan, the children's minister. Mr Brennan asked the council to consider publishing the notice on their website. The council decided to prepare a press statement but only issue it if they were asked for it.
The report was discussed behind closed doors at a meeting of a council committee.
It says: "Salford's care system has become a money `whirlpool' continuously drawing in extensive and expensive resources. The paradoxical outcome is that massive resources are being expended on children in care instead of being invested in those community-support services that could be used precisely to keep more children out of care." Problems stemmed from a shake-up of social work teams in 2005. While court work, child protection, and children in care was allocated to specific teams there was no team with responsibility for children who were in need who were not on the at risk register or in care. Salford's Tory opposition leader, Coun Karen Garrido, said: "Both the frontline staff and the children have been let down by senior management."
Coun Norman Owen, leader of the city's Liberal Democrats, said: "Because of a failure of senior management and the city's ruling politicians to grasp the severity of the situation some children have been taken into care unnecessarily."
In a confidential response to the report Jill Baker, of children's services, says: "There is no recognition in the consultant's report that some of the challenges faced resulted from a severe shortage in social workers."
John Warmisham, the city's children services, spokesman, said: "These reports certainly give it to us straight and set out where our safeguarding services need to be improved."
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Children should be kept out of the state 'care' system at all costs if at all possible. 80% of children in 'care' leave the system at sixteen with no educational qualifications whatsoever; unsurprisingly many of these end up stuck in deeply dysfunctional life circumstances and are prime candidates for homelessness, drugs, crime and imprisonment. It is a national scandal that over 70% of street prostitutes in the UK were formerly in 'care'! Just what kind of 'care' did these girls really receive from state social workers? That's why kids should be kept out of 'care' if possible in the best interests of the children and society at large.
The management policy of Salford Council was an absolute travesty facilitating kids to be drawn into 'care' unnecessarily. There are no excuses for this. Though the 'usual suspects' cynically and deceitfully tried to avoid the truth coming out, now that it has - surely somebody should take responsiblity for this diabolical shambles and fall on their sword? Perhaps Merry? Or Warmisham? Spicer? Baker?
18/07/2008 at 16:20