Social worker used false and misleading information to take Barnstaple child into care Thursday, August 22, 2013 North Devon Journal A SOCIAL worker from North Devon used false and misleading information to take a child from Barnstaple into care, according to a Social Services report. The Devon County Council Social Services internal investigation, by the customer relations department, completed two months ago, has revealed the news, which details how the social worker’s actions caused the child emotional harm, when their role was to protect the child from exactly that. And it also revealed how the minutes of a meeting which the social worker had altered were signed off, either without being properly checked or with the knowledge they had been changed. A summary of the report into the allegations, which has been seen by the Journal, also reveals how the social worker put pressure on another professional to retract a statement which showed the child was not at risk. The summary lists 13 complaints, 10 of which were upheld. One was not upheld, one partially upheld and one was not investigated. Devon County Council said it is still looking into the results of the report. Although the report details the social worker’s actions, it does not provide any clue as to their reasons for doing so. The Journal understands the social worker is still working in North Devon, despite the findings of the report. It is also understood the findings of the report have not been passed on to the Health and Care Professions Council, the regulatory body for social workers. A Devon County Council spokesman said it was still considering what further action should be taken. It is almost a year since the child was first taken into care. “Following a complaint, we commissioned an independent investigation,” the spokesman said. “The findings have been shared with the complainant.” And the council’s lead member for children, schools and skills, Will Mumford, said he did not want to comment on the report. “We are still investigating it and I certainly wouldn’t want to make any comments that will pre-judge or prejudice that,” he said. “Once the results of that ongoing investigation are known we will take appropriate action.” The news comes after an investigation, completed in July, was carried out by Devon County Council’s social care customer relations department into the mother’s complaints. It comes hot on the heels of an Ofsted report which branded Devon County Council Social Services’ child protection service inadequate. That report shone light on significant concerns about the way the council’s child protection team operated. It specifically pointed out how cases were not being kept up to date and how inspectors considered procedures to be out of date. At the time Mr Mumford stressed how “no children were found to be at risk of significant harm”. Read more: northdevonjournal.co.uk/Social-worker-used-false-misleading-information/story-19691000-detail/story.html#ixzz2cgeS7FoP Follow us: @ThisisNDevon on Twitter | thisisnorthdevon on Facebook
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 09:03:59 +0000
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