Kyle Bates aged 16yrs
 |
||
|
Swansea Social Services A number of referrals made to social services were ignored. Swansea Evening Post March 20, 2010 The tragic case of Kyle Bates contains serious failings to tackle the problems he faced for almost his whole life. Shortly after he was born he was given to a neighbour to raise. After moving to Swansea aged 11, he never attended school and was not registered with a doctor. He was repeatedly arrested and had been referred to Social Services. On a number of occasions he told police that he had been self harming. However, public agencies were not involved with Kyle in the period before he died aged 16, from complications after taking drugs. A number of referrals made to socials services were not acted on correctly. The report, which refers to Kyle as Child D, issued yesterday states: "The Review found during this period the social work staff and their immediate managers failed to apply the appropriate procedures or standards of professional practice in carrying out their duties and responsibilities towards Child D. "Referrals were not properly considered and acted upon. Judgements were not properly reached and assessments of risk were inadequate or not carried out at all. No enquiries were carried out into the possible underlying causes of the child's presentation. "Child D's case was closed on several occasions without enquires being carried out. The serious impact of chronic failure to receive education was not recognised." Speaking after the serious case review was released yesterday, Swansea Council's head of child and family services, Steve Walker said: "Between 2002 and 2005, I think there were a number of concerns expressed to social services that were not always acted upon appropriately." While the exact number of times Kyle was referred to social services is not included in the executive summary made public yesterday, Swansea Council's director of Social Services, Chris Maggs, said the number "doesn't stop the fact that appropriate action wasn't taken about those referrals." He added that improvements had been made in the way social services deal with these issues. He said: "The process now wouldn't be the same today as it was during 2002 to 2005." Kyle lived in Newport until October 2002 when the family moved to Swansea. However he was not registered to attend any school, nor was he registered with any GP. Despite involvement of the Swansea Education Welfare Service, including arranging home tuition, referral to a specialist unit, and prosecution of his carer, he never again attended school. From early in 2003 he began to be involved in criminal activities, and received a Police Reprimand which was notified to the Youth Offending Team. During 2004 and 2005 he was repeatedly found out in the early hours of the morning by police, was arrested for theft and, breach of police bail and was involved in violent acts, confrontation and obscene language. In total he was arrested 24 times for incidents including assault, criminal damage and theft. He was taken to hospital by ambulance after taking cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy and excess alcohol, found by police unkempt, dirty and smelly, and with no money. David Spicer, the independent author of the reviews, acknowledged that Kyle had refused to accept the help offered to him by the authorities. He said Kyle "was determined to avoid any involvement with public agencies and much of what happened in his life remains unknown." |
||