New Standards in Social Care and Compensation for Past Mistakes.

There was a Family Law case back in 2013, where Northamptonshire County Council removed a 15 day old baby from it's mother, having concluded that the baby was at a real risk of physical harm from the mother’s partner, and so needed to be placed in foster care. A series of unnecessary delays and mistakes occurred which resulted in the case taking nearly 2 years to reach the final conclusion that the boy be placed in the care of his maternal grandparents in Latvia. Fortunately, he is described as now ‘thriving’.

The local authority agreed that they were responsible for many ‘wholesale failures’, as described by the Judge reviewing the case, including failing to arrange agreed visitation between the baby and mother. They agreed to pay damages to the child, his mother, and his grandparents to compensate for these errors.

We discussed this with John Cameron, head of child protection operations at the NSPCC , asking whether these damages can, however, truly compensate the child and/or their family for unnecessary delays and mistakes?

He said: “When there are major failings and poor practice there can be a devastating effect on children and families. But there has to be recognition that child protection professionals have to make immensely difficult decisions every day. The consequences of not acting to remove a child at risk can be catastrophic. A balance needs to be struck with compensation. Professionals doing their best to protect children must not feel their judgment or ability to act swiftly is affected by the possible threat of litigation. Not acting could make the difference between life or death for a child in need of help.”

It has been announced this week that as part of the government’s plans to overhaul social work education and training, a new accreditation system will be introduced along with a new set of standards for senior social workers and leaders of child and family social workers

This new approach aims to create, “a culture where excellent practice is expected and celebrated”.

This is an ambitious project but addresses the matter at the roots. We can only hope they are successful in making this the reality, and that the need to try and remedy emotional damages with financial compensation becomes a thing of the past.