Isle of Man social care minister quizzed over 959 child referrals in a year

There have been 959 referrals in a year to children’s social care, a Tynwald committee heard. The Social Affairs policy review committee heard evidence from Social Care Minister Chris Robertshaw and department chief executive, Yvette Mellor.
They revealed there had been 959 referrals in a year by Social Services to children’s social care, but only 60 cases of abuse registered.

Committee member Speaker Steve Rodan asked about the large number of referrals, compared to the relatively small number of abuse cases subsequently registered. He pointed out that based on those figures, as only around 1,000 children are born on the island every year, almost every child could be the subject of a referral before the age of 18.

Ms Mellor responded by saying that would assume each referral related to a separate child but this was not the case as some children were the subject of more than one referral, but from different agencies.

Committee chairman Brenda Cannell suggested the figures showed too much of a hands on approach, describing it as Big Brother-like, and asked if the number of individual children referred was available, but Mr Robertshaw said it was not at present.

Mr Rodan then added that child abuse inquiries are proportionately more than in England and that care needed to be taken that there wasn’t a blanket referral policy, needlessly distressing and stigmatising families here. ‘The system is not sufficiently refined or defined in statute,’ he said, adn asked what positive action was being taken to reduce the number of unnecessary referrals.

Mr Robertshaw answered: ‘We have to tread very carefully as any failure could be catastrophic. We have improved our position and I do have confidence in my division. We are nurturing a better understanding of what the agencies should be doing,’ he added.

An independent inspection of the services the island provides for children and young people will get underway in September 2013, conducted by the Scottish Government’s Care Inspectorate with Mr Robertshaw presenting the findings to Tynwald in early 2014.