Report into child protection services in Kent published

Child protection services in Kent are managing to cope with “enormous pressure”, a report has found. Kent County Council’s review identified a 22% rise in referrals to children’s services between April 08 and March last year.

Despite the extra workload, it found morale among social workers was intact and “much was working well”.

The report into child protection arrangements was commissioned by the county council in December 2008.

The review team was led by Peter Gilroy, the council’s chief executive, who has a 30-year career in social work.

The report makes 19 recommendations on how to improve child protection arrangements.

Among them is reducing administrative work for social workers so they can spend more time with vulnerable families.

It also recommends more training and supervision, and action to reduce the rate of abandoned calls to children’s services.

The review comes just a fortnight after the publication of a serious case review into the death of a 25-day-old baby at the hands of her violent father in Tonbridge.

Tiffany suffered a fractured skull and died in hospital in November 2008 after being left in her father’s care while her mother was visiting a relative.

Christopher Sellman, who was found guilty of manslaughter, had a conviction for assault and had been cautioned for child neglect.

Two children previously in his custody had also been taken into care.

A serious case review by Kent Safeguarding Children Board found opportunities to protect Tiffany were missed by children’s social services (CSS) and health agencies.

Mr Gilroy said: “As we know from recent events, even when a single human error is made, it can have tragic consequences.

“It is at times like these we need to be most supportive as well as publicly standing up to be held to account where systemic failure or professional incompetence are the causes.”