Baby P social workers admit misconduct

Baby P social workers admit misconduct
Death of Peter Connelly could have been avoided if Haringey had learned from the Victoria Climbie tragedy, hearing is told


Rachel Williams
guardian.co.uk, Monday 24 May 2010 16.02 BST
Article history

Tributes and toys beside a memorial stone for Baby P in London. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

The death of Baby Peter was an "eminently avoidable tragedy" that might never had happened if two social workers at the centre of the case had done their jobs properly, a disciplinary hearing was told today.

The abuse of Peter Connelly was allowed to continue because Haringey's social services department, which was guilty of "incompetence and systemic failures", had not learned from past mistakes around the Victoria Climbie scandal, the General Social Care Council heard.

Social worker Maria Ward and her team manager Gillian Christou both admit their failings amount to misconduct, the panel hearing their cases was told.

Peter died at the age of 17 months in a blood-spattered cot in August 2007 after spending much of his short life being used as a punchbag.

Between them social workers, police and health professionals made 60 visits to his home over eight months, during which time he suffered more than 50 injuries.

His mother, Tracey Connelly, later admitted causing or allowing her son's death death, and her boyfriend Steven Barker and lodger Jason Owen were found guilty of the same charge.

Marios Lambis, counsel for the GSCC, outlined a string of allegations, including a failure by Ward to carry out enough unannounced visits to check up on Peter and his mother, even though the boy was subject to a child protection plan and known to be at risk.

She was supposed to go to the house at least once a fortnight, but on two occasions the gap between visits – which were sometimes only 15 minutes long - was 19 days, and once it was 22 days.

Although the child should have been seen alone, Tracy Connelly was almost always present, and Ward believed her lie that she was not in a relationship with Barker, and her assertion that Peter bruised easily.

Lambis alleged that Ward failed to consider the boy's injuries as part of a wider picture of abuse, instead focusing on each in isolation, so her responses were "reactive rather than proactive".

There was a four-month backlog in her records on the case that Christou was not aware of. When a childminder who played a "crucial" role in supervising Peter's care by looking after him four days a week – and had been reporting injuries suffered by the boy – had to stop seeing him, neither woman arranged a replacement.

The childminder told later of feeling frustrated that she was noting the injuries and telling Ward, but that nothing seemed to happen.

Neither Ward nor Christou made efforts to check up on Tracy Connelly's claim that she had taken Peter to Cricklewood to care for a sick uncle, meaning they did not know where he was for several days in July.

He noted that bloodstains were later found by detectives on the cot, walls and chest of drawers in Peter's bedroom.

"Had Ms Ward ventured into the premises beyond the kitchen or the living room … it would have been apparent that Steven Barker or Jason Owen were living in the house and that Peter was being abused," he said.

On one occasion, Connelly would not let her go upstairs to see Peter in his room, insisting on waking him and bringing him down, which should have caused concern.

Christou should have been making sure Ward was following the child protection plan, Lambis added.

"Ms Ward and Ms Christou did not comply appropriately with their duties, and had they done so the tragic death of Peter Connelly may have been avoided," he said.

He added: "Less than a decade after the damning public inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie, who had been known to Haringey social services, it is clear that the incompetence and systemic failures in the department were continuing to put vulnerable children's lives at risk… It can be said the death of Peter Connelly was an eminentally avoidable tragedy.

"The abuse of Peter Connelly was allowed to persist due to a failure of Haringey social services to learn from past mistakes."

While this was not the fault solely of Ward and Christou, some of the blame did lie with them.

"In blunt terms, the child protection process did not keep Baby P safe as it was supposed to."

Although the two social workers have admitted the factual allegations against them, and that the failures amount to misconduct, the panel must still reach its own conclusion on the allegation. If they find it is misconduct, they will hear submissions from the pair's lawyer on the severity of the sanction they impose, which could include being struck off.

Their counsel, Nick Toms, said they were "devastated" by what had happened to Peter. "They both became social workers to care for children at risk such as Peter Connelly," he said. "They did not intend or desire the outcome in his case and deeply regret what happened."

Toms said Ward and Christou were not attending the hearing in central London because of the way they had been treated by the media previously, which had led to Ward having to move to a safe house and a vigilante group telling her former neighbours they had come to beat her up.

"It should not be forgotten that at the heart of this case is the tragic death of a little boy," Toms said. "An individual case such as that of Peter Connelly should not be used as a political football."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/may/24/baby-p-social-workers-misconduct