Committee finds Haringey at fault

All
agencies within Haringey failed to fully implement the child
protection procedures or carry out a proper assessment or
investigation of Victoria Climbi‚’s needs, the local area
child protection committee has concluded.

The
long-awaited publication of the executive summary of Haringey
ACPC’s case review into Victoria’s death echoes the catalogue of
failings and inadequacies of Haringey agencies already uncovered
during phase one of the public inquiry into her death. The ACPC
rejected as unsatisfactory an initial overview report completed in
October 2000.

The
summary highlights key issues around record-keeping practices,
inter- and intra-agency communication, understanding agencies’
responsibilities, techniques for interviewing children, and
management oversight of child protection inquiries.

Despite
the case review’s damning findings and wide-reaching
recommendations, Haringey director of social services Anne Bristow
told the council’s policy and strategy committee last year that the
review was “unable to conclude that taking any of the missed
opportunities would necessarily have guaranteed that Victoria would
not have died” (News, page 7, 29 November).

Recommendations include better training and management of the
assessment process, clearer lines of accountability for decision
making, and interviewing children in their first language. They
have been incorporated into an action plan and the ACPC’s business
plan.

– See
pages 10-11 for reports on the first seminar of phase two of the
Victoria Climbie Inquiry.