Lothians Child Protection At Crisis Point

A specialist  team set up to tackle child abuse and neglect in the Lothians is struggling to cope with the huge number of youngsters referred to it. The Amethyst team is the first of its kind in Scotland, bringing together police, social workers and NHS staff working on child protection cases.

But minutes of meetings obtained by the Evening News under the Freedom of Information Act repeatedly spell out concerns within the team about their ability to handle their workload and get help quickly to vulnerable children.

One senior manager warns of the growing pressure caused by a “very significant rise” in cases and highlights widespread fears about the time taken to get help to some youngsters.

The massive number of children living with drug-addicted parents in the Lothians has been blamed for much of the problem.

The public sector union Unison said around 4000 children a year suffered abuse and neglect because of their parents’ drug habits. The number of new cases referred to the police, NHS Lothian and the city council has risen by 70 per cent in the last four years, from 635 to 1078.

Social workers are not supposed to have more than 14 vulnerable children cases each on their desks at any one time, but currently they typically have 19, although some have as many as 30.

The city council, Lothian and Borders Police and NHS Lothian all today backed the new system – which sees Amethyst examine all referrals before passing them to social workers – to pay dividends in the long term.

But union leaders warned that increased investment in child protection services had simply not kept up with the rise in cases.

A Unison spokesman said: “More money was made available for more social workers, which was supposed to reduce caseloads from 19 to 14. But the rise in referrals has kept up with the number of staff coming in.

“I think there’s three main reasons for the rise. One is heightened awareness among the public because of Scottish Executive campaigns, and heightened awareness among agencies that deal with children. There has been an increase in low-threshold stuff, things that are not in the end child protection issues, but they have to get looked into anyway.

“But the single biggest, over-riding problem is the sheer number of drug-abusing parents. That is affecting 4000 children in the Lothians.”

Cases such as Caleb Ness, the 11-week-old baby shaken to death by his father in Leith in 2001, have led to more people contacting the authorities when they have concerns about a child’s welfare.

There are 271 children on the at-risk register in the Lothians, with very few youngsters staying on it for two or three years at a time.

Councillor Andrew Burns, the city’s education leader, said: “Amethyst is the first multi- agency organisation of its kind in Scotland.

“Like all new organisations, there have been challenges in setting it up, but I am extremely confident that in the long run it will reduce workload issues as it provides much needed support to practice work teams [of social workers] throughout the city.”

Heather Tierney-Moore, Nurse Director at NHS Lothian, said: “We have recently strengthened the health team within the Amethyst unit by appointing a new nurse consultant for vulnerable children and an additional child protection adviser.”

A police spokesman said: “There is a heavy workload involved with child protection but one of the key elements of any investigation is ensuring we all meet together to discuss particular cases.

“We will continue to work closely with our partners to ensure children’s safety is at the forefront of our operational priorities.”