Brandon Muir – Difficult Job For Social Workers

When children die in tragic circumstances, such as the case of Brandon Muir, people are quick to point the finger at social workers.

Why was he not taken from the family? Why did nobody spot the signs of injury on his body? Why was his short life filled with anger, violence, drugs and prostitution?

Dundee City Council social work director Alan Baird will not be resigning as a result of the Brandon tragedy, insisting he is “the right person to take forward child protection services in the city of Dundee”.

And to make the case of the bubbly 23 month old even more tragic, it has emerged social workers were just 48 hours from removing him from the care of his drug addict and prostitute mother and the man who was to inflict his fatal injuries.

So why was he allowed to stay so long in that grim situation?

According to retired social worker Sandy Stuart, the situation is never that cut and dry.

Mr Stuart, of Friockheim, had worked in the service for over 25 years and went on to teach social work students. He retired in 1997.

He said, “To be honest it isn’t a job I would want to do these days. It has changed a lot since I retired.

“A lot of this is down to some very high profile cases where things have gone wrong and children have died.

“The authorities have tried to tighten up the system and introduced so many bureaucratic requirements.

“It seems now the systems have taken over the actual job.

“These have been introduced with the best of intentions, however, with every new case where a child has died, we hear ‘this must never be allowed to happen again’.

“But it seems the same things are going wrong in these cases as were happening back when I was working.

“When we read the resulting inquiries report, the same issues seem to come up.

“There is still at times a lack of communication between different services and agencies.

“The finger of blame always seems to point at social workers and not so much at staff from other agencies such as the health service. The reality is that all agencies have their part to play.

“At times I was involved in inter-agency training with the police, health service and education department.

“We planned our training together, talked through our expectations and promoted better ways of working together.

“There was mistrust on all sides but the aim was to get over these barriers.

“I felt that was one of the most important things we did. But it seems to me that even now there are still problems and different agencies are not often working together.

“That was recognised 20 years ago as being vital.”

Mr Stuart said social work departments were often under-resourced and recruitment to the service was an ongoing concern.

He said, “There is a significant pressure of workload on social workers.

“They are over-stretched and this is only getting worse as the recording process becomes even more rigorous.

“These things have to be done properly as they can be required for legal proceedings as evidence in court.

“I really feel for all the social workers dealing with these issues now. It was not an easy job when I did it and it certainly isn’t any easier now.

“The systems brought in are adding to the already pressurised workloads. But there are no easy solutions.

“Although a social worker will be responsible for a particular case, that does not mean it all falls on that one person. Various agencies should work together and exchange information.

“The people who are going into the home and seeing the family must be the one who does the recording as no one else can do that for them.

“Ideally we do not want social workers to have too many cases. But that is simply not happening.

“As it is they cannot adequately look at the interests of every family. This is why sometimes things go wrong.

“This is compounded by the fact that over the years there have been a variety of instances where children have died or suffered.

“Social workers have suffered a great deal of bad publicity and this has created a vicious circle. They become demoralised and then they cannot attract people to the job. Recruitment is a definite problem.”

Mr Stuart said a social worker’s job is made all the more difficult when issues such as drugs and prostitution are involved.

He added, “Little children are so vulnerable. When people are on certain kinds of drugs they are not always aware of what they are doing and can be violent or neglectful.

“They focus on their own needs and that is generally where their next fix will come from rather than thinking about what is happening to their child.

“Social workers have to have their wits about them. Parents in situations where children are being abused will use all the tricks in the book to cover up what is going on.

“They will keep the door locked and pretend they are out or pretend the child is sleeping.

“And the sad fact is that family members and friends will often cover up for each other, even if a child is suffering. Sometimes they simply don’t do enough to protect that child.”

As often seems to be the case, the public reaction to Brandon’s situation was ‘why was he not taken from his mother?’

But Mr Stuart, who worked for Angus Council, said it is not always as simple as taking the child away from the situation.

“Ever since way back when I was working there were problems finding suitable carers for children who were removed from their homes.

“We cannot just place a child with anyone and there has always been a shortage of foster carers.

“We have to ensure children are placed in a secure and safe environment.”

There is also a belief that members of the public and friends and family of Brandon Muir could have done more to prevent his violent death.

Dundee social work boss Mr Baird said there were clearly witnesses at the trial who had seen violence inflicted on Brandon. That was a point of concern for him, who believes Brandon could still be alive today if members of the public had contacted his staff.

And although it may be too late for Brandon, he encouraged anyone in this situation to do so and assured them they could report their concerns anonymously.

Mr Stuart added, “All this sounds doom and gloom but there is obviously a very good side to the job.

“Social workers do some very good work, but it is unfortunately these tragic cases that they become known for.”