The Child Minder

Simon Bellwood, a former secure unit manager in Essex, claimed children on welfare and remand had been locked up in solitary confinement for 24 hours or more at Greenfields secure unit.

After he told Community Care his story, the national press picked up on it and caused what one Jersey source called an “earthquake” behind closed doors.

Now the island’s health and social services minister Stuart Syvret, who supported Bellwood’s case, is facing a vote of no confidence tommorow. Syvret claims other ministers have “whitewashed” over his outspoken criticism of children’s services.

The extraordinary, long-winded case for Syvret’s dismissal blames his “behaviour” and the chief minister has insisted this has “nothing to do” with Syvret’s raising of child protection concerns.

Just as Bellwood went public in Community Care, the island’s chief minister Frank Walker announced the government was appointing UK social work expert Andrew Williamson to conduct a three-month inquiry into children's services. The terms of reference for this have just been published.

Syvret, who is locked in a political battle against Walker, has invited the Howard League for Penal Reform to conduct a separate investigation of youth custody on the island.

Syvret has also appointed June Thoburn, Emeritus Professor of Social Work at the University of East Anglia, as the new chair of Jersey’s child protection committee.

It looks like two of the island’s political heavyweights are playing tit-for-tat in seeing who can trump the other with the bigger, better and more illustrious UK social work expert.

Williamson, Thoburn and The Howard League have the difficult task of getting beyond the political mudslinging surrounding the allegations of child protection failings in Jersey.

Let’s hope their inquiries provide some balance to the picture and ensure people like Bellwood get a full hearing.