By James Simons-

Lincolnshire council have been credited for their sensitive support by social workers and the help from staff to develop safety plans through their own words and pictures.

“Clear messages are given to children throughout this work that the abuse is not their fault but that if they are at risk there are things they can do to help them stay safe,” it said.

The review examined the  response of  social services to the issue and discovered a “wide range of resources” to support direct work with children and services were properly utilized  and  were making a positive difference in many cases.

Social services are generally known to be overloaded with case work, making them prone to carelessness and negligence.

A number of social workers in the U.K have been disciplined and dismissed this year alone for unprofessionalism, with many of the unprofessional conduct having their roots in work overload and inadequate training.

However, the report from Ofsted in relation to Lincolnshire is a positive one that reflect their dedication and focus on the job when dealing with children suffering from domestic abuse.

The report by ofsted inspectors also stated that “there is good awareness and ownership of the domestic abuse joint protocol by front line staff across agencies. There has been a strong focus on equipping frontline staff and their managers with the knowledge and assessment tools required to better understand and tackle domestic abuse,” the report added.

Inefficient

Ofsted inspectors also highlighted inefficiencies and “gaps” in services for perpetrators who had not received convictions and warned this had the potential to undermine the good work in place. The electronic recording system in children’s social care also failed to support effective practice, they added.

“The system is not efficient and inspectors experienced significant delays in accessing key information from the system for this inspection. This means that social workers are spending unnecessary time on administrative tasks and records do not easily provide a coherent picture of the child’s lived experience and background.”

Police with inadequate training were discovered to be assessing the suitability of domestic abuse cases  in meeting  the threshold for intervention from social care. The finding is grave show of incompetence and unprofessionalism on the part of those involved, given the sensitivity and magnitude of the case type.

 Children who suffer domestic abuse need expert handling and training as such children many times grow up to become a huge liability on society. Failing them in anyway as the early stage is unacceptable.

 Further revealed in the report was the fact that written agreements used by social care, placed an “over reliance” on the victims to manage their own safety.

“Such agreements do not always make clear that professionals take full account of the psychological impact of abuse on victims, the threats to which they are exposed or the heightened risk to victims and children at the point of separation from the abuser.

“If agreements are to be used they should always make clear the support the victim can expect from agencies, including police use of powers to protect victims and their children,” the report said.

Ofsted’s point here is extremely important. Placing alot of reliance on the victims of abuse to mange their situation is ridiculous. They are victims, and need continuous help. The eye of media.com will keep in touch with ofsted to ensure regular reviews on the over reliance issue highlighted, in order to see that Lincolnshire social services respond positively to the criticisms highlighted .

Whilst Lincolnshire social services have generally done well in handling the victims of domestic abuse, improvement in the areas raised by ofsted is of paramount importance.