Three serious case reviews by the multi-agency Swansea Safeguarding Children Board have been published. Swansea Council is one agency on the Board and has issued the following statement.
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.
“We fully accept the recommendations in the Serious Case Reviews and I would like to reassure people that over the last two years we have taken a range of actions to help minimise the risk of this happening in the future.
“There is now better information sharing with partners so that all of the agencies have a more complete picture of the relevant issues before deciding collectively how best to protect a vulnerable child.
“We have more robust child protection procedures in place, more social workers and better supervision and training, including how we engage better with those families who are reluctant to accept our support.
“Swansea Council has also invested an extra £6.4 million in the service next year to help address the increase in child referrals that has taken place across the UK in the last year.”
