Child protection plan could backfire, social services warn

A social services leader warned the Government yesterday that plans to set up a national service to combat child abuse might backfire.

The warning came as the Government received a report by Lord Laming, a former chief inspector of social services, with the results of his inquiry into the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié.

The inquiry was told that Victoria, who died in February 2000, suffered months of torture and abuse at the hands of her great aunt, Marie Thérèse Kouao, and Kouao's boyfriend, Carl Manning, who are serving life for her murder.

The report will be published in the next few weeks and the Government is due to issue a Green Paper on protecting children next month, which will take Lord Laming's recommendations into account.

Ministers are considering whether to take child abuse cases out of the hands of social workers and give them to a new national body. But David Behan, president of the Association of Directors of Social Services, warned that this could create "another boundary" that local police, social services, health and other child protection workers would have to confront. He said: "We would favour a strengthening of the current system. We are not saying this because we do not want changes. Clearly mistakes have been made. This [Victoria Climbié's death] is a very tragic death but we need to ensure that we are working to improve the system.

"Our concern is that a separate agency will become separate from the preventative measures and services which are so important to providing care and support to children and families."

Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, said: "Victoria's death was a tragedy. It is vital that all agencies dealing with children learn the lessons from this terrible case. Protecting children, particularly the most vulnerable, is a central priority for health and social services whether provided by government or non-government agencies. We will now consider Lord Laming's findings and make the report public as soon as possible."

The inquiry was told that Victoria had been tortured, starved and made to sleep, bound hand and foot, in a bin bag in a bath in the couple's flat in Tottenham, north London.

At least 12 chances to save the girl's life were missed by three local authorities, the police and social services, all of whom were in contact with her before her death. She was let down by lapses in communication between social workers, police and health officials, Lord Laming was told.