Serious Case Review: Abuse of autistic boy went unnoticed

Social workers and teachers in Middlesbrough failed to act upon the injuries suffered by a disabled child being abused at home.

Nathan*, who has autism and mobility problems, was five years old when his teachers started to notice injuries on his body.

Despite the fact such injuries were spotted throughout his primary school life, it was not until he was 11 that a child protection referral was eventually made. It was also wrongly assumed his injuries were self-inflicted, the serious case review found.

A failure of teachers, social workers and those in health to accept anyone could abuse a disabled child was a major factor in their inability to protect him.

Another was his communication difficulties, which meant he could not tell anyone about the abuse.

No criminal action has been taken, but following child protection proceedings, Nathan no longer lives at the family home in Middlesbrough.

Poor links

Among criticisms of children’s social care was a failure to take into account child protection concerns about Nathan’s stepfather in relation to a previous relationship. Social workers also failed to take into account the impact on the family of caring for a disabled child.

Poor links between social care and schools was another factor. If these had been stronger, school staff may have had more confidence and knowledge to spot abuse and make a child protection referral at an earlier stage.

Neil Pocklington, Middlesbrough Council’s deputy director of children, family and learning, says the council is now working to improve links with schools. He says head teachers have always been invited to attend multi-agency safeguarding liaison meetings to discuss latest policy, but “they just didn’t come”. He adds: “Now, because of what has happened they are taking up that invitation.”

Social workers also carry out child protection procedure checks in schools to highlight any gaps or weaknesses. An audit of all child protection cases involving disabled children is also planned and training to improve protection of children with disabilities is being reviewed by Middlesbrough’s safeguarding children board.

Challenging perceptions

Pocklington says: “A priority is to ensure we create training that challenges perceptions. A major concern was the suspension of disbelief that anyone could abuse a child with a disability even though research shows they are more likely to suffer abuse.”

Andy Lusk, director of autism services at the charity Ambitious About Autism, says disabled children are three times more likely than their able bodied peers to be abused. He hopes a focus of improvement in Middlesbrough is for the council’s disability and child protection experts to share their knowledge.

“It is obvious from this serious case review that this needs to happen. But that is not just through training. They could look at perhaps placing disability and child protection staff in the same office so they can learn from each other on a daily basis,” he says.

Carol Povey, director of the National Autistic Society’s Centre for Autism, says changes in the behaviour of children with communication problems can be a sign of wider problems such as abuse. “You have to look for other signs if they can’t talk and changes in behaviour are often a good indication something is wrong.”

She adds that teachers and other staff who see the child daily are best placed to spot such subtle changes, making strong links between social care and schools imperative.

* Name has been changed