The COUNCILS have criticized a culture of lying, delay and misdirection in the Herefordshire Child Welfare Department.
Their comments came during an extraordinary meeting convened after a damned verdict was published that there had been “tremendous and longstanding failures” in the provision of child services in the county.
Mr Justice Keehan asked whether the Council’s childcare was fit for purpose after errors spanning over eight years were found in the treatment of four children who were placed in foster care in 2012.
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The councilors of the meeting, which was to be convened to obtain the verdict and vote on recommendations, including the establishment of an improvement committee, the external review commission, and the appointment of a ministry of education advisor to chair the improvement committee, said this had been prevented, Duly auditing the children’s management for not having been told the truth by the officers.
Council Chairwoman Carole Gandy said she was alarmed by the “appalling failures” set out in the verdict and criticized the “often evasive” and untrue culture within the department.
“If you ask questions and don’t get the right answers, there is ultimately nowhere to go,” she said.
And her views were backed by Coun Jennie Hewitt, who said proper scrutiny was prevented by officials who did not act in a timely manner, using general privacy policy as a smoke screen, avoiding nasty questions, not replying to emails, and public Closing questions by labeling them as defamatory and often adopting a threatening and obstructive attitude.
“Your actions have hampered the work of the control and tried to protect the work of the management,” she said.
“I’ve found that when they have problems they have their own interests first. The children’s interests weren’t the driving factor behind their decisions.”
City councils also pointed out that the childcare department had longstanding issues that needed to be addressed by Ofsted in 2018.
Coun Terry James said he had warned of problems in the department for the past decade but was greeted with blank stare when addressing problems.
“I have been with families who have been under the influence of child services and I was appalled by the ethos some social workers have in child services,” he said at the council plenary session.
“I attended a pre-birth adoption meeting and was disgusted that there was no compassion for the families involved. There are some wonderful social workers who do an amazing job, but not all of them.”
The council has since hired the interim director of the Children’s Fund, Cath Knowles, who the council heard is working on a “root and branch” overhaul of the department while some of those involved in the errors are no longer on the council .
The local council is also assisted by the Local Government Association and the Department of Education in improving services.
The council members voted unanimously in favor of the recommendations, while amendments were passed calling for independent exit interviews to be set up for staff and urgent engagement of a clear plan of action.