Welsh councils fail vulnerable children

Welsh councils are not meeting the needs of vulnerable children, an
audit by the Social Services Inspectorate for Wales has revealed.

The inspectorate found similar issues as those raised in the
Victoria Climbi’ inquiry report, including lack of communication
with children and their families and greater need for
multi-disciplinary and multi-agency approaches.

Of seven councils audited only Swansea was judged to be serving
most people well. High staff turnover and lack of resources,
leading to social workers feeling “intense pressure”, is partly to
blame. This in turn has led to a prompt response from social
workers only when the children’s needs “require more intensive or
intrusive interventions”.

The inspectorate plans to assist councils to draw up individual
agendas and may ask them to self-audit within 18 months.