Birmingham Social Services
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| Birmingham City Council's Social
Care and Health Directorate: Birmingham Social Services. Source: Fassit UK Three key agencies involved in the care ...of murdered seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield have been criticised for failing to protect her in a report published today. Toni-Ann was shot in the back alongside convicted crack dealer Bertram Byfield, 41, at his north west London flat in September last year. The Birmingham Area Child Protection Committee (ACPC) review criticised Birmingham City Council's Social Care and Health Directorate, the National Immigration Service, and the Child and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) for failing in their professionalism and practice. 1994 Rikki Neave, six, was found strangled by his coat zipper in a wood near Peterborough. His drug addict mother, Ruth, was jailed after admitting cruelty towards Rikki and two of his three sisters. She hit them, burned them, threw them across the room and locked them outside. Neave had asked a succession of social workers to take the boy off her hands and told one she would kill Rikki if they did not do something. A report by the social services inspectorate three years later said fault primarily lay with senior management in Cambridgeshire social services department. 1999 Chelsea Brown, two, was battered to death by her father. Robert Brown, who was jailed for life for her murder, had a criminal record for violence against children. Her mother, Maria Brown, was jailed for 18 months for child cruelty. The girl's social worker, Norma McDevitt, visited the family 27 times in the 10 weeks before her death. She took Chelsea to a paediatrician who said that six out of nine areas of bruising "had no plausible explanation" and at least one was deliberately inflicted. These findings should have triggered police involvement and a multi-agency case conference under Derbyshire county council's procedures, but neither happened. 2000 Victoria Climbié, eight, died from hypothermia in a tiny flat in Tottenham, north London, after suffering months of horrific abuse and neglect. Her aunt, Marie Thérèse Kouao, and her boyfriend, Carl Manning, were both jailed for life for the girl's murder in January 2001. A public inquiry into her death began in September 2001, which is expected to lead to sweeping reform of Britain's child protection services. It has heard that there were at least 12 chances for the agencies involved in her protection to have saved her. Two social workers from the London borough of Haringey have been suspended and face disciplinary proceedings. 2000 Lauren Wright, six, was found dead after suffering a fatal punch or kick from her stepmother, Tracey Wright, which caused her digestive system to collapse. The woman was found guilty of manslaughter, as was the girl's father, Craig Wright, who had turned a blind eye to her abuse. Norfolk social services department has admitted it made serious mistakes and missed chances to save Lauren. An inquiry found that inter-agency coordination was "ineffective" and social workers had not acted with "due urgency". 2002 Ainlee Labonte, two, was starved and tortured to death by her vicious parents, Leanne Labonte and Dennis Henry. The couple, from Plaidstow, east London, were jailed for manslaughter for deliberately punching, scalding and burning the toddler, who had 64 scars and bruises on her body when she died. She weighed just 9.5kg (21lbs), about half the normal weight of a child that age. An inquiry into her death found that the health and social workers who should have protected her failed to do so because they were paralysed with fear of Leanne and Dennis. It criticised the staff and agencies involved for poor communication and for failing to carry out a proper assessment of the risks facing Ainlee. |
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