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Social services who put girl in drug flat ‘not fit for purpose’
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor05.10.09
A social work department which placed a London schoolgirl with a crack dealer before she was murdered was today condemned as “not fit for purpose” in a highly critical official report.
The damning conclusion follows an inquiry into Birmingham social services — ordered after it emerged that eight children it had been responsible for had died in the past four years.
One of the dead children was seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield, who was shot dead, along with her “father” Bertram Byfield, at a flat in Kensal
Green by a hitman.
It emerged that the child had been allowed to visit Byfield, who later DNA tests showed was not her real father, by Birmingham social workers even though they knew that he had been
convicted for dealing in crack cocaine three years earlier.
Today's report, compiled by a Birmingham City Council scrutiny committee, heavily criticises the authority's social work department and says that its “current social work model” for children is unfit for purpose.
It says a lack of senior management was a “major risk” and a shortage of experienced staff continued to “hamper progress towards improvement”.
Members of the inquiry committee were also “shocked” at the standard of accommodation at some the council's care homes and found that the screening of child referrals was carried out by “inexperienced staff ”.
Len Clark, who chaired the inquiry team, said: “If we are to make sustainable progress, we must address the underlying issues in our report.”
Birmingham council has apologised for its failures over the Toni-Ann Byfield case.
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