Herefordshire agrees improvement plan after damning High Court judgment
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Herefordshire County Council has agreed an improvement plan following a High Court ruling that it had “utterly failed” young people in its care.
In a ruling made last week, Mr Justice Keehan, at the Family Division of the High Court in London, said the council did not have children's "best interests" at the heart of its decisions.
He cited the case of three siblings aged 17, 13 and 11, who cannot be identified, alongside a fourth sibling who had died aged 14 after falling ill.
The council was criticised over its failure to use a court hearing in 2013 to change the siblings' “distorted perceptions” of their family after they were taken into foster care in 2012.
It also failed to promote contact between the children and their mother and failed to take any steps to preserve the children's connection to their family, the judge said, adding that when the 14-year-old contracted septicaemia, Herefordshire "gave consent to medical procedures without any discussion with the mother or any application to the court for a best interest decision".
There had been a "wholesale failure" to include their mother in their lives or in decision-making, which was "tragically but graphically" illustrated by events leading to the death of one of the children, Mr Justice Keehan said.
“In the whole of my professional life I have rarely encountered such egregious and long-standing failures by a local authority,” he added, ordering the council to “call into question whether this local authority's children's services department is fit for purpose”.
In an extraordinary council meeting - called by the council leader to discuss a resolution to important matters affecting a local authority - councillors passed an improvement plan which includes the implementation of an assurance and improvement strategy and the establishment of an improvement board with an independent chair approved by the Department for Education.
Funding has also been agreed for the commissioning of external reviews, council leader David Hitchiner said.
“A process for exit reviews will be implemented for children’s social care staff who are leaving the organisation, enabling us to improve. In addition to this we will engage quickly with the children and young people scrutiny committee meeting and provide them with an action plan as soon as possible,” he added.
Former head of social work at Cheshire East Council and a former social worker Cath Knowles has been appointed as interim director of children’s services, Hitichiner said.
The DfE has appointed Gladys Rhodes White as improvement advisor at the council for at least 12 months.
Hitchiner said the council had reached a “watershed moment”.
“We cannot hide, we cannot live in denial and cannot fail to deliver. We must improve and our current culture must change, however significant change will take time. By accepting our failings and being open to change we will move forward to ensure the welfare and best interests of the children who are at the heart of everything we do,” he said.
