Judge critical of ‘very poor practice’ by Gloucestershire social services

By The Press Association25th September 2015News EnglandChildrens Services, Gloucestershire, Local Authorities, News England, Social Work

Council social services bosses have come under fire from a judge for not assessing all options in relation to the care of a six-year-old boy at the centre of a family court case.

Judge Stephen Wildblood says the boy’s case reveals “very poor practice” within Gloucestershire County Council.

The judge said “realistic options” for the boy’s future care had not been assessed by social services staff and “large amounts” of public money had been wasted.

He has made his criticisms in a ruling published after a private hearing at a family court in Bristol.

The judge did not name the youngster at the centre of the case but said he had been in “short term” foster care for about 16 months.

Judge Wildblood said he had been forced to adjourn a final hearing following which he could make decisions about the boy’s future.

“These proceedings were transferred to me by the Gloucestershire magistrates because they reveal very poor practice within the local authority,” said the judge.

“Realistic options in relation to the future care of (the boy) … have not been assessed by the local authority. That means large amounts of public money and time have been wasted.”

He added: “I am deeply critical of the local authority for the procedures that it has put in place in this case.”

The judge said he intended his ruling to be a “formal record” of what had “gone wrong” in the case.

Earlier this year, the council said it would investigate after being criticised by the same judge over its handling of a case involving a four-year-old girl who had suffered ”neglect” at home.

In a ruling published in March, Judge Wildblood outlined a number of ”failures” by the council following another family court hearing in Bristol.

The judge said it was ”very rare” that so many ”points of bad practice” were ”gathered into one case”.

He said the case had caused him ”immense anxiety” and described it as ”the most extreme example of institutional failure that I can remember”.

Judge Wildblood said the girl was in council care and the local authority had asked for her to be placed for adoption.

Both parents opposed that application and wanted the youngster to live with her father.

But the judge chose another option – saying she would stay in care and stay in contact with her family.

Kathy O’Mahony, the council’s director of children’s safeguarding and care, said after the March ruling that officials were ”very disappointed” but respected the judge’s decision.

”Judge Wildblood has repeatedly praised Gloucestershire Children’s Services over the past nine months for the high quality of the court proceedings work and we take this criticism very seriously,” she added. “I have asked for a comprehensive investigation into this case.”