The child protection services audit was commissioned by Edinburgh Council in the wake of the death of 11-week-old Caleb Ness in 2001. Researchers looked at a sample of cases from the child protection register, and while no children were found to be at immediate risk, "acute" shortages of staff, a lack of resources including access to email, and gaps in both "willingness and commitment" to share information, were all identified.
The report concludes that the level of support that deprived and abused children need "was not able to be provided" and found low levels of involvement in child protection cases from school nurses, GPs and the police.
The report suggests child protection advisers should be appointed, with information sharing increased and children monitored more closely. It also points to an "urgent need" for investment in IT. The report calls on Edinburgh Council to accept that the staff shortage will last for some time, and recommends reallocating resources for maximum efficiency.
The report follows an internal council audit, released last week, which found that social work missed six of its nine targets, including a reduction in the numbers of children on the child protection register for more than two years and those without a social worker.
British Association of Social Workers in Scotland professional officer Ruth Stark said poor retention of staff was partly to blame. "They're haemorrhaging staff and so haven't had the capacity to do longer-term intervention work," she said.
She also criticised a planned social work reorganisation, saying proposals to split social services into a children and families department and a health and social care department would "drive a further wedge" through social services instead of improving communication. She added that social care staff felt their concerns over the reorganisation had been ignored (News, 28 April-4 May).
But a council spokeswoman said the reorganisation would improve interagency working.
Council leader Donald Anderson said the authority was addressing many of the issues raised in both reports. "We will not get results overnight, but we have turned the corner," he said.
- http://download.edinburgh. gov.uk/ChildProtection/Summary.doc.
