The Child Minder

The source wanted to remain anonymous for “fear of reprisals” and would not give a name – a scenario that was repeated by several other individuals over the next couple of days.

The source advised me to contact Jersey’s social services and health minister Stuart Syvret. I followed this up, expecting the usual “no comment” from a government minister. I was unprepared for the deluge that followed. Syvret, it became clear, was locked in a battle for his political life after raising child protection concerns on the island and was desperate for a listening ear.

I soon came to realise that Community Care could be useful to Syvret’s cause to maintain his position as he faced mounting calls to go from his fellow ministers.

While trying to sort the factual wheat from the political chaff, I discovered that Simon Bellwood, a UK social worker had claimed he was sacked after criticising a policy of placing children in solitary confinement for 24 hours a day at a secure unit on Jersey. This seemed to go some way to validating the claims of my anonymous source. I tracked down Bellwood and asked him to speak to me. After “chewing it over” he agreed to go public, despite the fact he had an employment tribunal coming up. It is testament to the strength of Bellwood’s conviction that he chose to do so.

Other sources then began to ring me from the UK and Jersey, with strikingly similar concerns about children’s services on the island. As the evidence began to mount up, I became convinced there was a story beyond the political mire.

A week into my research, the Jersey government announced they were doing an independent inquiry into children’s services, just as they prepared a vote of no confidence against Syvret. The move seemed extraordinary given the fact that Syvret himself had repeatedly raised concerns about child protection on the island, and accused other ministers of failing to take these on board. By announcing the inquiry, Syvret’s opponents had the perfect trump card to silence him and then shunt him out. Syvret has launched his own vote of confidence and his future will be decided next month.

Whatever the response to my article and Jersey’s inquiry, a debate about child protection on Jersey has been kick-started. The Jersey establishment should welcome these initial steps towards getting people at the coalface to talk as it will help their inquiry.

The British Association of Social Worker’s code of ethics encourages social workers to speak out against oppressive practice. The “small people” – the social workers – can and should rock the establishment boat and pass up the pressure right to the top. How else does change happen?

In my experience as a Community Care journalist, there are not enough whistleblowers in social work who are willing to speak to the media. But hopefully this story shows the huge power of just one small anonymous phone call.