Haringey “missed opportunities” to prevent abuse of toddler
Police, social workers and medical staff could have prevented the abuse of a toddler at the hands of his family in Haringey, a report has found.
A serious case review published today by Haringey’s local safeguarding children board (LSCB) found that the child, referred to as Child T, was taken to hospital with suspicious injuries in June 2010 and February 2011. He was eventually taken into care in June 2011, aged four.
The report concluded that communication between agencies, and management arrangements within them, were insufficient. “Because of failings in the system, this child suffered physical abuse that could have been prevented,” Haringey LSCB chair Graham Badman said in the report.
Haringey’s child protection standards have previously come under the microscope following the deaths of Baby Peter Connelly in August 2007 and Victoria Climbie in February 2000. But despite those high-profile tragedies, the report found evidence “highly suggestive of child abuse” did not prompt a thorough child protection investigation.
“The report illustrates all too vividly the need for vigilance in all services,” said Badman. “It would be an over simplification to describe this case as a series of missed opportunities, but there is, more seriously, compelling evidence of individual and systemic failure.” Badman said there was a “lack of alertness” to the possibility of child abuse as a cause of the boy’s injuries and a reluctance to “think the unthinkable” and recognise all the adults in the family as the perpetrators of abuse.
Source: CYPNow
