The boy, called Child Ab to protect his anonymity, had been removed from school for more than a year without any effective intervention from professionals across education, health and social care, until he was eventually taken into care at the end of 2016, the serious case review (SCR) by Northamptonshire Children Safeguarding Partnership (NCSP) states.
His stepfather and mother were jailed in April 2019 for neglect offences against the boy and his siblings, for seven years and three years respectively.
The SCR into the boy's case calls on NCSP to review elective home education “which remains a national issue” after the boy was removed from school by his stepfather despite him not having parental responsibility.
“Whilst it is currently a parent’s right to elect to home educate their child, the sanctions for not complying with the local authority requirement to visit the child’s home, interview the child, see the child’s work and provide information concerning the programme of work produced by the child, are limited,” states the SCR.
A failure to spot the “disguised compliance” of the boy’s stepfather and mother is a particular concern. It meant that their apparent concern and co-operation with agencies was in reality a “façade”, the review adds.
A wider lack of “professional curiosity” among all agencies that came into contact with the family is among criticisms raised in the SCR.
In addition, social workers had put a child in need plan in place for the boy before he was removed from school but this was closed after three months.
“In effect, Child Ab was hidden from view and the abuse perpetrated by stepfather, with a lack of protection by mother, continued”, states the report.
“Fortunately, in this case, Child Ab did not die. If children’s social care and police had not acted when the school passed on the concerns arising from disclosures by Child Ab’s siblings, then the outcome could have been very different. However, by not instigating child protection procedures when previous referrals had been made to children’s services meant that Child Ab was left to endure continuing neglect and serious abuse for years,” it adds.
Other recommendations made for children's professionals include being more thorough when dealing with families where there is a safeguarding concerns. Better monitoring of children not attending GP appointments is also needed, the review recommends.
This week Northamptonshire County Council’s children’s services was branded “one of the worst performing yet most expensive” in the country by commissioners drafted in by the government to improve services.
Ofsted rated children’s services in the county as “inadequate” last year after finding multiple failings, including children being placed in unsafe settings.
Northamptonshire County Council has apologised "unreservedly" for the errors made in the case.
Director of children’s services Cathi Hadley, said: “The fact that this child was left to endure continuing neglect and serious abuse is completely unacceptable and we apologise unreservedly for any systemic faults in children’s services at the time that would have contributed to the child being left in the care of his abusive stepfather.
“The report highlights a number of recommendations for all agencies involved and we will continue to build on the work which has already started to ensure that every child in Northamptonshire is as safe as possible.
“Our children’s services department is on an improvement journey, which is being overseen by the Children’s Commissioner and provides a clear focus to develop conditions in the organisation for good practice to thrive and to make sure in the future there is a stable and able workforce.
“We have improved decision making in the multi-agency safeguarding hub and invested heavily in this area to make sure the front door to our services are as effective and as safe as they can be.”
Cabinet member for children’s services Councillor Fiona Baker added: “We are deeply sorry for any poor decision making and mistakes which may have contributed to this awful case of abuse.
“Children’s services in Northamptonshire are on an improvement journey and although much progress has been made there is still a lot to do.
“The transformation of children’s services is being overseen by a government appointed commissioner and last year, the Government also announced last year that children’s services will be moving into a trust.
“This is an opportunity to accelerate the improvements, the new ways of working and the better practice being introduced across the service. We cannot rest until we know we have done everything humanly possible to limit the chances of bad people committing such acts of abuse and neglect upon children in this county.”
