Haringey Council still struggling to share child protection information, report finds

An independent serious case review into the serious scalding of
a two-year-old boy has criticised Haringey Council, the London
borough slammed for its failures in the Victoria Climbie case,
writes Natalie Valios.

The boy, who cannot be identified, pulled a kettle of boiling water
over himself in February 2003, burning 28 per cent of his
body.

Despite an earlier council child protection investigation
concluding that the incident was an accident, the serious case
review finds poor record-keeping and a lack of communication
between GPs, health visitors, social workers and mental health
service workers at Barnet, Enfield and Haringey NHS Mental Health
Trust.

Just two months before the incident, the boy’s mother was
diagnosed with a depressive disorder with psychotic features,
including fabricated induced illness syndrome. She discharged
herself from hospital against medical advice and was referred to
community psychiatric services. There had also been earlier child
protection concerns.

Ron Aitken, Liberal Democrat social services spokesperson for
Haringey, said the case showed a lack of thinking outside
individual workers’ narrow professional remits.

Anne Bristow, Haringey’s social services director, insisted
that, although there might have been better working together,
“that was not likely to stop the accident
happening”.

However, she added that, as a result of the review, risk
assessments of parents with mental health problems would now also
include their children.