By Sammie Jones-
Bradford Council took too long to give a rape victim a social worker, according to a review.
A community resource worker was assigned to work with the girl, but partner agencies were unaware that she was not a social worker. They remained in the dark of this fact for 10 months
The girl,whose identity has been withheld for legal reasons was supported by this community resource worker until May 2012. During this period, the girl continued to suffer sexual abuse without a social worker involved in her case.
The review found that the complexity of her needs was such that required a qualified social worker attending to her case, with her risks escalated.
Commentators claim the case should have been allocated to a more experienced worker with a social work qualification.
The review comes in the wake of the sentencing of 12 men who abused the girl over 13 months. The perpetrators exercised “total control” over Autumn by subjecting her to a series of assaults and threats to her and her family.
The report finding that although social services were aware of the problems surrounding the girls life, they did not know the extent of her problems. The report also noted that outcomes are dependent on the way industry knowledge skills are utilised and how individual practitioners are enabled to commit to taking responsibility both individually and collectively to their tasks and assessment.
The alarming failures by Bradford Council were also caused by confusion about various processes and roles throughout work with the girl. Critical information was poorly communicated within the system, and effective communication and retention of such information is key to any effective system. The education social work team at the girl’s school also failed her woefully, despite her attendance in school dropping to 40%.
A whole farcical system at Bradford Council was a mere reflection of poor quality of leadership and management, which are often key to effective outcomes in individual cases.
The management of key leadership ”through the co-ordination and robustness of systems, policies and procedures was clearly missing according to the report
Alarming failures of this type are very disappointing. The reports states they occur often due to the nature and history of the relationships between the people who discharge these responsibilities. ”Outcomes depend on the nature and robustness of assessments and how they are shared, the report further claims.
They also rely on how well critical information is communicated through the system, retained and utilised as knowledge within plans and interventions.
In the final instance, outcomes are also dependent on the individual choices, decisions, understanding,knowledge, skills and commitment of individual practitioners and how they are supported, and in consequence, how they are enabled to take responsibility for their assessments and interventions, both
individually and collectively.
The girl’s initial disclosure of rape was made in May 2011 when children’s services allocated a community resource worker to her case that month. The case was flagged as high risk at strategic level in November 2011 but there was conflict within and between agencies of the “significant differences” in professional judgments made about Autumn’s need for protection and safeguarding, the review found.
Bradford Council Children Services Resisted Police Advice
Efforts by the girl’s school and the police to move the girl out of the local area away from the perpetrators were “strongly resisted” by children’s services who believed her case did not meet child protection thresholds as the family were actively involved in the child in need plan. Why children’s services had a greater say than the views of the police is perplexing.
Apparently children’s services know better despite the several blunders of many social workers from children’s services in the past. This year alone, the eye of media.com have revealed a number of social workers from children’s social services who have undergone disciplinary action fo negligence and incompetence, with some social workers being dismissed for not doing their job properly. The system needs to be radically improved.
“This over emphasis on family support continued in decision making through to the spring of 2012,” the report found.
Eventually, after the police gathered sufficient evidence to arrest the men, Autumn was placed in a residential unit in June 2012 with the agreement of her mother, where she assisted the police investigation into her perpetrators.
David Niven, chair of Bradford Safeguarding Children Board, said there had since been changes in awareness, learning and education in regards to the sexual exploitation of children.
“With all that we have learnt since then, I am absolutely convinced that many other potential Autumns have been prevented in the last few years,” Niven said.