Swansea Council apologises for shortcomings in its child protection procedures

Steve Walker, whose apology follows the completion of serious case reviews into the deaths, admitted that child protection procedures in the area were unsatisfactory when the young people died in 2007 and 2008. But he claimed extensive work had taken place over the past two years to improve practice.

"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," he said. "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."

Walker said information sharing in the area had improved since the teenagers' deaths, adding that Swansea Council has since invested an extra £6.4m in child protection to help address the increase in child referrals that has taken place across the UK in the past year.

"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," he explained.

In May 2007, Child B, who was 16, died in her mother's home after taking a heroin overdose. She had previously been in care; 10 days before she died she had been released from a secure unit and was placed with her mother by the local authority.

In January 2008, Child D, who was 16, died in his bedroom at home in Swansea after taking heroin. Social services were not involved with Child D in the period immediately before his death but a number of agencies had been involved with him earlier in his life.

Child E committed suicide in the spring of 2008, when she was 16 years old. Her and her family had been known to and received services from a number of agencies both statutory and voluntary throughout her life.