Vulnerable children are still not being protected by Bedfordshire Council, according to a damning Social Services Inspectorate report, writes Sally Gillen.
It found that the zero-rated department’s children’s services had a number of “deeply rooted” problems, and the Victoria Climbie Inquiry “had not had a significant impact on child protection”.
Services in child protection were weakened by poor supervision, which “increased the likelihood that children would fall through the net,” the report found.
Looked after children received “unsatisfactory” and “inadequate” support from the council, and planning on many cases was “non-existent”.
The report concludes that very little progress has been made to address the “serious deficiencies” highlighted by a similar inspection in June 2002, after which the department was placed under special measures and intensive supervision by the Social Services Inspectorate.
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