Haringey Social Services Could Face Takeover After Baby P Case

The government said last night it may send a new management team into Haringey council, to take over the running of social services in the borough where Baby P died at the hands of his mother and two men.

Sources close to Ed Balls said the step would be considered when an independent report into the state of social services in the borough reaches ministers on December 1.

The children’s secretary has already expressed concern about systemic failure in the case of the child who was killed even though he was seen more than 60 times by staff from social services, police and health authorities.

Last night a government source said: “At the hardest end of our options is sending in a new management team.”

Yesterday it also emerged that the death of 17-month-old Baby P was likely to result in changes to communication protocols between police, hospitals and social services, after failings were uncovered which could have contributed to his death.

Neither the police nor social services were contacted when Baby P was admitted to North Middlesex hospital with a large swelling to his head three months before his death, Haringey council said yesterday, though police had already arrested his mother for suspected child abuse.

When he was admitted to hospital with the head injuries in April 2007, hospital workers told the social services there were no “child protection concerns”.

The borough’s internal review of the case has acknowledged that the failure to tell the police about the subsequent head injury was a serious error. When it reports on December 1 the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, which yesterday continued to sift through files and interview officials, is likely to call for changes to procedures to ensure the police are informed whenever a child on the child protection register goes to hospital with an injury, suspicious or not.

The error is part of a pattern of communication breakdowns which have begun to emerge. Last night the BBC broadcast claims of a split in Haringey’s social services department with evidence from Sylvia Henry, a senior social worker, that she was “very reluctant” to allow Baby P be looked after by a family friend, Angela Godfrey, because “[Godfrey] believed the local authority were overreacting” and that Baby P’s injuries were “caused by rough play”. Henry was so determined that the toddler be taken into care that she arranged for a foster carer.

Haringey said that Henry had “not raised” concerns and Baby P was eventually looked after by Godfrey and then allowed to go home, where he would die.

Haringey also said yesterday said “there had been a delay in their involvement due to [Baby P’s] case being transferred between police officers, creating a gap of several months”.

A confidential police document, obtained by the BBC, also expressed concern that social services had become “too parent-focused” and that the apparent cooperation of Baby P’s mother had led to a “rule of optimism”.

Haringey council also responded to allegations made by Nevres Kemal, who was formerly employed by them as a senior social worker and who has claimed that the council failed to take appropriate action in another child protection case.

A council spokesperson said yesterday: “The matter was investigated. No breach of the statutory child protection procedures occurred … the Commission for Social Care Inspection has confirmed in a statement that it was satisfied that the council had dealt properly with the individual case raised by Ms Kemal.”

Scotland Yard said yesterday that Baby P’s mother was arrested in December 2006 and again in June 2007 when Baby P had suffered “visible bruising”, but on each occasion the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence.

In a separate development, Balls will today announce new legislation to hold individual councillors to account for improving the safety and wellbeing of children in their boroughs.

A Children’s Trust Board consisting of the local authority, health, police, schools and other services will be legally required to work together to agree and deliver a Children & Young People’s Plan. They will be forced to report annually on progress.

“In some places there is still too little emphasis on early intervention and prevention,” Balls is expected to say. “Organisational barriers and competing priorities appear to be getting in the way.”
Background: Care decision

Whether to take a child into care can be a life-changing decision. Ultimately the family courts decide, but local authority social workers bear the burden of gathering evidence in the first place.

Under the Children Act 1989, the statutory thresholds set down are simple, but open to wide interpretation. This system places the onus for making the right call on the professional skill and judgment of social workers. The police and healthcare professionals are also involved, but the final decision rests with the local authority.