Who’d be a social worker? Damned if you do intervene, damned if you don’t – and now, thrice damned for the systemic dereliction of duty that culminated in the horrific death of Baby P.
Heads, if not pay packets, have already rolled at Haringey Council following a scathing report from Ofsted and the health and police watchdogs. Its findings were, in the words of Children’s Secretary Ed Balls, ‘devastating and damning’.
Haringey’s children’s department was condemned for poor leadership and a failure to identify children at risk. Its practices were labelled ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unreliable’. All of which begs the question that the children, schools and families committee is eager to put to Ofsted head Christine Gilbert – namely, why the council’s child protection services were pronounced ‘good’ by the inspectorate only last year.
Here’s a few more questions MPs might like to ask. Why did Ofsted inspectors rely far too much on paperwork, rather than practice on the ground? Was a director from an educational background suited to overseeing child protection in a borough infamous for the death of Victoria Climbié?
And does Ofsted have the appropriate skill set, when education rather than social care is still so central to its culture?
The children’s inspectorate has owned up to deep flaws in its serious case review system. Lord Laming’s forthcoming review will no doubt reveal more shortcomings. But before rushing to condemn, it is worth considering the context in which Baby P’s death occurred. Haringey has immense levels of deprivation, severe housing problems and a large migrant population.
These are precisely the ‘corporate’ issues that the joined-up, lighter-touch Comprehensive Area Assessment regime is designed to highlight and address. Equally, a preventive agenda was central to the merger of children’s educational and social services.
But this holistic approach is fast unravelling. The Sun is baying for blood. And the mood is shifting against light-touch regulation in favour of a more heavy-handed – and populist – approach.
The alphabetti spaghetti regulation regime needs reforming – but not like this. Not in response to moral panics about social workers that have little to do with society’s duty of care.
