Wirral Local Safeguarding Children Board publishes Serious Case Review

Wirral’s Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) has published a Serious Case Review into multi-agency involvement with a teenager known as Child G.

Child G died in May 2012, aged 17. In November last year, her former boyfriend admitted her murder, and was given a life sentence, with a minimum period in custody of 22 years. He was 18 at the time of the offence.

The Serious Case Review commissioned by the LSCB has been independently chaired and authored, and reports on the extent of all agencies' involvement in Child G’s life and whether their interventions reflected good standards of practice.

The review found that agencies working with Child G could not have foreseen what happened to her. The LSCB is conducting a separate review in relation to the offender. The result of this review will be published in summary form.

The overview report makes a number of recommendations, all of which are now part of an action plan which will be reviewed and updated regularly by the LSCB.

Dennis Charlton, Independent Chair of Wirral Local Safeguarding Children's Board (LSCB), said: ‘I would like, on behalf of all members of the LSCB, to extend our deepest condolences to Child G’s family and anyone who knew her. I know that a number of people who work for agencies associated with Child G’s care knew her personally, and were greatly affected and saddened by her death.

‘The Board have accepted the findings and recommendations of the Review which was commissioned by the LSCB following Child G’s death.

‘We are already working on a number of areas which have been identified, where assessments, multi agency work and information sharing were not of a sufficient standard to provide a framework for co-ordinated actions and interventions. Progress on these recommendations will be monitored and updated regularly by the LSCB, and the results will contribute to child protection practice in Wirral and will be used to inform further action and training.’

The recommendations of the report and its findings are detailed in full in the report but focus on:

• understanding the child’s needs, characteristics and behaviours;

• providing services that positively promote the child’s welfare as well as reacting to concerns about harm;

• ensuring that services are co-ordinated, targeted and delivered by the fewest number of professionals with any individual family;

• ensuring that national and local policies and procedures provide a guide to practice;

• taking personal responsibility for professional excellence, including issues relating to challenge; and,

• ensuring that the child’s views are understood, recorded, and, where appropriate, influence service provision.