by Bronagh Miskelly
A generous soul might describe the latest verdict on Haringey's child protection services as "could do a great deal better", but looking at some of the ongoing areas for improvement in the report by Ofsted and other inspection bodies it is incredible that little progress has been made.
It is possible to be sympathetic over some of the staffing issues and that it is only 6 months since the Joint Area Review following the Baby P verdict, but looking at the latest report and the Haringey response I get the impression of a lack of urgency or perhaps of an organisation holding up its metaphorical hands and saying "it's all too hard", neither of which bodes well for the safety of vulnerable children.
Throughout the report reference has been made to the difficulties caused by high vacancy rates and staff illness. And without improving staff numbers it will be harder to make improvements but equally it will be near impossible to attract the quality of staff needed without evidence on improvement and a real commitment to change. Something that is not emerging consistently when you look at the latest report.
Some of the issues raised by the report can only be described as damning of Haringey's efforts so far - efforts which realistically it should have known were necessary well before November 2008.
For example, on-going problems with poor and inconsistent case recording was an issue in the Baby P case so it shouldn't have come as a surprise to those running the council that it needed addressing. It is also a fundamental element of child protection, so it is shocking that Ofsted points to a lack of progress.
The report calls on Haringey Safeguarding Children's Board to "ensure that the learning from the recent serious case review of Baby P is fully disseminated to all front-line services with immediate effect" - surely this should be automatic.
Then there is the need for all formal supervision decisions on cases to be recorded - in the word of Homer Simpson: "Doh!"
And if that isn't enough we discover that frontline staff don't know how to access the procedures manual.
On top of all this is the "discovery" early in 2009 of a backlog of 400 cases, which council leader Clare Kober describes as "coming to light". It is frankly incredible that this wasn't know by a local authority that was clearly going to face scrutiny over its child protection practice.
The implications of the latest report suggest that the problems at Haringey run much deeper than a high vacancy rate and the root and branch reform of practice and attitudes across the whole piece is needed.
Throughout the report reference has been made to the difficulties caused by high vacancy rates and staff illness. And without improving staff numbers it will be harder to make improvements but equally it will be near impossible to attract the quality of staff needed without evidence on improvement and a real commitment to change. Something that is not emerging consistently when you look at the latest report.
Some of the issues raised by the report can only be described as damning of Haringey's efforts so far - efforts which realistically it should have known were necessary well before November 2008.
For example, on-going problems with poor and inconsistent case recording was an issue in the Baby P case so it shouldn't have come as a surprise to those running the council that it needed addressing. It is also a fundamental element of child protection, so it is shocking that Ofsted points to a lack of progress.
The report calls on Haringey Safeguarding Children's Board to "ensure that the learning from the recent serious case review of Baby P is fully disseminated to all front-line services with immediate effect" - surely this should be automatic.
Then there is the need for all formal supervision decisions on cases to be recorded - in the word of Homer Simpson: "Doh!"
And if that isn't enough we discover that frontline staff don't know how to access the procedures manual.
On top of all this is the "discovery" early in 2009 of a backlog of 400 cases, which council leader Clare Kober describes as "coming to light". It is frankly incredible that this wasn't know by a local authority that was clearly going to face scrutiny over its child protection practice.
The implications of the latest report suggest that the problems at Haringey run much deeper than a high vacancy rate and the root and branch reform of practice and attitudes across the whole piece is needed.
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