Shoesmith challenges social workers to support under-fire DCSs

Shoesmith, who was sacked in 2008 as director of children’s services (DCS) at Haringey Council in the wake of the Peter Connelly case, has hit out at the profession for behaving as "bystanders" and failing to speak up as DCSs lose their jobs in the face of public criticism.

In particular, she wants the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) to do more to publicly support children's leaders who come under fire when concerns about child safety arise.

Shoesmith, who in May 2011 won an appeal over her sacking by then Children's Secretary Ed Balls, issued the call in response to comments made by Rotherham Labour MP Sarah Champion about the resignation of the town’s former DCS Joyce Thacker.

Thacker resigned from the role in mid-September after MPs and campaigners called for her to quit following the publication of an independent inquiry report estimated at least 1,400 children had been sexually exploited in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

Champion told CYP Now that Thacker was forced to quit her job because she failed to deliver improvements at the troubled council quickly enough.