Chloe Davies aged 16
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Swansea Social Services Failed by agencies employed to properly protect her. Chloe Davies was just 16 when she committed suicide in April Failed by agencies to properly protect her. Swansea Evening Post March 20, 2010 At the time she was living in a Swansea care home. An inquest into her death heard that she had never got over the death of her father when she was nine. A serious case review concerning her death found that agencies that were in contact with Chloe were making assessments, "but not always sharing them appropriately with partner agencies." The review states that Chloe "and her family had been known to and received services from a number of agencies both statutory and voluntary throughout her life. "There were a number of areas of concern ... including ongoing neglect, self harm, substance misuse, problems at school and unresolved emotional issues." Chloe had a history of self harming and had started cutting herself at age 12 and by that time had also been brought home drunk by police. The report states that "she continued to abuse alcohol to the extent of needing several admissions to A&E and referrals to her General Practitioner, but there was a lack of engagement with services offered." The report also states that "a theme running throughout the case was the failure of agencies to adequately take account of the child's voice, or to give sufficient weight to her communication of her feelings through anger or self-harming behaviour. "She frequently articulated her unhappiness but insufficient account was taken of this in planning. However, she frequently rejected the help she was offered." A number of themes were identified during the serious case review. The report states: "Many indicators for neglect which were persistent throughout age008.ncies involvement were not adequately and actively addressed. "There were occasions of missed opportunity due to the failure of a timely response to concerns where the threshold for making a referral to social services was met, but not made. "Agencies were making assessments within their own agencies but not always sharing them appropriately with partner agencies. This meant that other assessing agencies did not have full information on which to base their assessments." Steve Walker, Swansea Council's Head of Child and Family Services, said: "The deaths of these three teenagers in 2007 and 2008 were a tragedy, and we would like to express our sincere condolences to their families at this difficult time. "We deeply regret that at the time social services were involved with these young people, there were shortcomings in our child protection procedures. "We believe that these shortcomings led to errors of judgement in the management of these cases, and we apologise unreservedly for this. |
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