By Charlotte Webster-
The credibility of social workers are at an all time low, following the devastating murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
The Social Workers Awards are held every year to reward dedicated social workers who have made a mark in their profession, yet the collective output of social workers is nationally perceived to be poor by most families who have worked with social workers.
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Social workers are generally perceived to be incompetent in British society- stories of inadequacy and low standards is believed to outweigh the good work of committed social workers today. This has been the case for years.
Six-year-old Arthur was murdered by his stepmother Emma Tustin at their Solihull home on June 16, 2020, despite social workers coming into contact with the young victim.
Social workers who visited the family of young Arthur Labinjo Hughes, concluded there were no safeguarding issues, evidencing a clear level of negligence that continues to disgrace the profession.
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Tustin, 32, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 29 years in prison earlier this month. Arthur’s father, Thomas Hughes, 29, was also sentenced to 21 years after being found guilty of manslaughter, in what was one of the worst cases of child cruelty in recent times.
In the months leading up to his death, Arthur was tortured, beaten, and poisoned with salt by his father and stepmother, with bruising left on his body.
Tragically, social workers and police officers reportedly missed a number of opportunities to save Arthur’s life, dismissing desperate pleas from other family members, who were even threatened with arrest under lockdown rules.
Social workers have for years faced numerous disciplinary actions and dismissals for serious levels of negligence and misconduct, this being a major example of their failings.
Many social workers have long blamed a heavy workload for the series of poor service they deliver, often overshadowing the very good work done by other very committed social workers.
The month before Star died, there were record high levels of vacancies and sickness among social workers and reference to referrals with no action.
Numerous friends and family members had called social services to express concerns about Star before she was killed, but one of her evil killers, Smith, successfully deceived social workers that the referrals were malicious.
Councillors were told at the time by ex-director of children’s services (DCS) Mark Douglas that the latter issue had recently improved, after “a period in which foundations towards good social work were not put in place” in the wake of a 2018 ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating.
Bradford council’s interim DCS Marium Haque, in a joint statement with other leaders of the local safeguarding partnership from the police and healthcare services, said: “We all deeply regret that not all the warning signs were seen that could have led to firmer statutory enforcement action.”
A local child safeguarding practice review, being written by an independent author, will be published in January 2022 with recommendations for children’s services and other agencies in Bradford to better protect children in their care.
Bradford Partnership leaders – Haque, Bradford district commander chief superintendent Sarah Jones and chief officer of Bradford District and Craven CCG Helen Hirst apologised for Star’s death and that there was “much that we need to learn from this case”.
They said they had already made improvements to their safeguarding practices but said that they needed “to fully understand why opportunities to better protect Star were missed”.
“We offered support and assistance to Star’s family for what we believed their needs to be, at that given time, but we all deeply regret that not all the warning signs were seen that could have led to firmer statutory enforcement action,” they said.
They said the local review would provide “partners and colleagues in our district and across the country with clear recommendations so we can better protect children in our care”.
They said they would contribute their learning to the government’s national review into child protection launched following the Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder.
Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford council, said: “Social workers in our district support a great many children and young people and carry out work in circumstances that are often very challenging.
“It is essential therefore that lessons are learned from Star’s terrible death so that we can better protect our children.”
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