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Warning bells on Haringey ignored, claims lawyer
Ministers were warned six months before the death of Baby P. that child protection procedures were not being followed in the London borough where he died, the government confirmed on Friday.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:21 November 14, 2008
London: Ministers were warned six months before the death of Baby P. that child protection procedures were not being followed in the London borough where he died, the government confirmed on Friday.
It was the second serious child welfare tragedy in the borough in recent years following the murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie by her guardians in 2000.
A lawyer acting for a former social worker at Haringey Council said he had written to the then Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, calling for an investigation into the authority's failings in dealing with child abuse cases.
The letter was passed to the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), who wrote back suggesting the matter should be referred to the Commission for Social Care Inspection, which regulates social care in England.
"Our records show that we received a letter dated February 16, 2007, that was forwarded to us from the Department of Health, detailing an employment tribunal issue with Haringey Council, and containing an allegation that child protection procedures were not being followed in Haringey," the DCSF said.
"The permanent secretary of the DCSF has looked at the reply and is confident that proper procedures were followed," it added.
Raising concerns
The social worker, Nevres Kemal, had raised her concerns after working on a separate case involving the sexual abuse of children by a relative, media reports said.
Her lawyer said his client's warning was ignored. "I did not get a reply from anyone," Lawrence Davies told the Times.
"If someone had acted then, maybe Baby P. would not have died." Davies told the BBC that Kemal was now under a court injunction preventing her from discussing confidential child-protection matters.
The 17-month-old boy died in August last year after repeated beatings, despite being on Haringey's at-risk register.
In the run-up to his death, he had been seen 60 times by doctors and social workers, but no action was taken because they said his mother had concealed the truth from them.
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