Lewisham Council failed to provide minimum care to child, ombudsman finds
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) has criticised Lewisham Council for failing to protect a child after she reported repeated incidents of abuse while in the local authority's care.
The concerns have been raised following a complaint by a woman to the ombudsman that the council did not properly investigate her allegations of “significant and repeated incidents of physical, sexual and emotional abuse” while she was in in foster and residential placements.
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This includes a report 11 years ago of being raped while in residential care and a report in 2013 of being emotionally abused for “several years” while in foster care.
She also complained that she had been left homeless and not adequately supported when she left care.
The council had investigated the reports, but the woman has not been told of the outcome, the ombudsman Michael King found.
In addition, the council is criticised for not providing the ombudsman with information on the outcome of its probe into the woman’s foster carers.
“My investigation found London Borough of Lewisham failed in its role as this woman’s corporate parent to keep her safe, provide her with the minimum of ‘good enough’ parenting, and prevent her being exposed to further significant harm while placed in its care,” said King.
“And instead of being open and transparent, both with my investigator and those tasked with its own internal investigation, it sought to impede the process by withholding the full body of evidence it holds.
“This has left the young woman distressed not only by what happened to her, but also by being denied closure without knowing the outcome.”
Lewisham also failed to complete a standards of care review and child protection enquiries following the allegations, King found.
“This meant there was a lack of evidence for it to address or act on to mitigate any continued risk of significant harm to the foster carers’ own children or any other children placed with them,” he said.
The council has agreed to pay the woman £7,500 and also provide the woman with the outcome of its investigation into her former foster carers and other action taken.
“It is important the council uses this case as a chance to learn,” added King.
Chris Barnham, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “Children in our care are often among the most vulnerable, and ensuring they are properly looked after is one of the most important things we do as a council. We take this responsibility extremely seriously. Lewisham Council accepts the findings of the LGO report and acknowledges that historically there were a number of shortcomings in the quality of services delivered by Lewisham children’s social care and how we responded to a complaint made by a young person in our care.
“The complaints and the events referred to date back a number of years, and there have been significant service improvements since that time. Nevertheless, we take the criticisms very seriously and have ensured the LGO’s recommendations are acted upon.
“A comprehensive plan to drive up standards has been in place in Lewisham children’s social care since 2018 and we are seeing a positive trajectory of improvement We are committed to continually improving our services for children in care, and the learning from this report has informed our improvement planning.
“We have apologised unreservedly to the complainant and have shared with them the reports requested by the ombudsman.”